Cherry XTRFY Targets World Domination In A Huge eSports Gaming Peripheral Expansion
You'd be hard pressed to find a PC gamer who has not heard of Cherry, especially if they've ever shopped for a mechanical keyboard. Cherry MX key switches are in a plethora of planks from a wide range of manufacturers, including Corsair, HyperX, Razer, and others. What you may not be aware of, however, is that Cherry recently acquired Swedish gaming brand XTRFY and now plans on expanding its own line of gaming gadgets around the world.
Or as Cherry puts it, the acquisition "created a gaming brand with an ideal setting for a global offensive." Part of what's interesting about this is it sets up a situation not unlike Microsoft and its Surface lineup. To some extent, this global expansion of Cherry XTRFY gaming peripherals means it will inevitably compete with some of the same established brands that employ Cherry's key switches.
That's not an angle Cherry XTRFY is pushing, mind you, it's just an interesting observation on our part. That aside, what this ultimately entails is more options for gamers and in particular the esports crowd.
"With Cherry XTRFY, we want to prove and further enhance the competitive edge of our products, which have always enjoyed a stellar reputation among competitive gamers. We are constantly looking for technical innovations to improve the performance and precision of our products to help every gamer reach the next level. Each product, each formed partnership and cooperation contribute to this," René Schulz, vice president of Cherry's business unit peripherals, said in a statement.
Here in the US, XTRFY is not as widely known as some of those other companies we mentioned, as well as ones like ASUS and Gigabyte, at least among mainstream crowds. But it's not a newcomer by any stretch—it's been cranking out pro-grade peripherals for competitive esports gaming for around a decade.
The partnership with Cherry gets off the ground with a handful of new items, including the Cherry MX 8.2 TKL Wireless, Cherry MX-LP 2.1 Compact Wireless, and Cherry MX 3.0S Wireless, along with a new XTRFY K5 keyboard series and the XTRFY M8 Wireless mouse.
Beyond the initial flurry of new product announcements, what's really at play here is Cherry's attempt to expand the XTRFY brand into a household name. It's akin to ASUS and its ROG division or Gigabyte's AORUS brand, to give a couple of examples.
We'll have to see how it plays out but from our vantage point, more competition is always a good thing.
