Razer Co-Founder And Gaming Mouse Pioneer Robert Krakoff Passes Away

thegamer.com:

The co-founder of technology company Razer and pioneer of the gaming mouse, Robert Krakoff, passed away on April 26, 2022. The cause of death has not been revealed, but seems to have been related to old age. Krakoff was 81 years old at his time of death. Krakoff is survived by his wife Patsi and two children, Scott and Robin. The entrepreneur and businessman currently has five grandchildren.

The news comes directly from Razer. The official account for the company on Twitter made the announcement of his death on April 28. "We are saddened by the passing of Co-Founder and President Emeritus Robert Krakoff, known by everyone as RazerGuy," the company said. "Robert’s unwavering drive and passion for gaming lives on and continues to inspire all of us. Thank you, Rob. You will be missed."

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Krakoff was one of the key figures behind what came to be known as the gaming mouse. The designer and engineer worked for a company called Kärna back in 1999 which made an "opto-mechanical encoding wheel that could track a mouse’s movements at 2000 dpi, far higher resolution than other mice at the time." This technology went on to become the first ever gaming mouse known as the Razer Boomslang.

Kärna went bust as a company in 2001, but rather than go down with the ship, Krakoff teamed up with a marketing agency called Fitch that helped him found Razer in 2005 alongside its current chief executive officer, Min-Lian Tan. Fitch developed the name, logo, website, packaging, and contributed to the overall design of the Razer Boomslang.

Krakoff went on to become the public face of Razer, adding tips and advice from RazerGuy to the packaging of numerous products. He was known for