PC gaming peripheral company Roccat Studios has just announced a new MMO mouse called the Nyth with a removable mini keyboard on the side that can be customized with the button layout of your choice. And if the buttons that you want aren’t available, it has been designed to allow you to simply 3D print your own.
We’ve seen plenty of larger companies attempt to sell 3D printed products; however, allowing your customers to 3D print their own customized parts is something pretty new, and something that has a decent chance of catching on.
Computer mice that are optimized for MMO – Massive Multiplayer Online – games are not like the mice that you use while checking Facebook, they have several additional buttons that can be hotkeyed to work with specific functions within your game of choice. Roccat Studios is a producer of several well-regarded gaming peripherals, but this is their first MMO-optimized gaming mouse.
“We’ve wanted to develop our own MMO mouse for a long time, but like always, we end up seeing a bigger picture once we begin brainstorming. MMO mice have these massive button grids that are locked in. You can change the button functionality, but what if you don’t like the layout?” Roccat founder and CEO Rene Korte explained, “Our solution is a wholly modular MMO mouse, with interchangeable button combinations that suit the player.”
The PC gaming peripheral industry is expected to be a $20 billion dollar a year market by 2016, and it is primarily driven by consumers who are not just open but actively eager to adapt new technologies to their hobby. This is a huge and desirable market to expose 3D printing to, and while there is most certainly a lot of crossover between PC gamers and people familiar with 3D printing, this brings a new and provocative idea to the market.
In addition to selling the new mouse with several button layout options and allowing users to 3D print their own custom buttons and side-parts, they will also have a large online 3D file library, where users can download other button options created by the company or the larger community of users who are certain to spring up around it. This, I think, is what will make or break this idea and, if anyone is capable of fostering a community-driven idea like 3D printable parts, it is an organization like Roccat. They started as a PC gaming league and moved into manufacturing products because no one else was making what they wanted and ended up being really good at creating innovative products that gamers wanted. So, if Roccat thinks there is something here, then, chances are that other companies are going to be keeping an eye on the success or the failure of the Nyth.
Currently there has been no announcement of price or the date of availability. You can learn more about the Nyth gaming mouse here and you can learn more about Roccat on their website.
