Pro controllers are popular, and ROG understood it well: at CES 2023, the Asus gaming brand unveiled the Raikiri Pro, an Xbox controller cut out for esports integrating an OLED screen.
Are you only a real gamer if you don’t have a professional controller? One would be tempted to ask this question by looking at the evolution of the market for video game peripherals in recent years. If they were there the prerogative of third-party manufacturerscontrollers customized to meet the specific needs of competitive gamers continue to evolve and gain ground.
We can perhaps point to Xbox and its Elite Series controllers as the point in time when the general public was finally touched by these initiatives. It must be said that if the manufacturer may lack a few exclusive licenses, pushing it to buy Activision-Blizzard to fill the void, there is no shortage of personalized controllers.
ROG Raikiri Pro, OLED and skill
Asus and its Republic of Gamers brand are not left out, of course. At CES 2023, they decided to update their gamer controller with ROG Raikiri Pro. This controller, very clearly inspired by Xbox design, including the asymmetry of the joysticks or the saucer-shaped directional cross, has two major particularities. The big first is obviously to integrate a 1.3-inch OLED screen above the classic Xbox button.
But what will this screen be used for? The swag first of course, since it is possible to display customizable animations and texts through the manufacturer’s Armory Crate software. But not only, since it also has a real utility: change profiles in order to find its different configurations and adapt in a few seconds to the chosen experience. As a bonus of course to display the charging rate or the status of the microphone.
Who says charging rate says battery, and it is here that we find the second great particularity. This official Xbox controller is compatible with three connection modes : wired in USB-C, wireless in Bluetooth and wireless in 2.4 GHz. Attention however: it is not compatible only wired on Xbox, wireless regardless of the technology being reserved for the PC. This is one of the small disappointments of this announcement, while the Xbox Series nevertheless uses Bluetooth as a wireless connection interface.
Otherwise, we find the usual service of esports controllers of this kind. Two buttons above the OLED screen allow you to change profiles, the classic Xbox buttons are present, we find 4 customizable palettes on the back of the joystick and the pressure needed to activate the triggers can be changed from analog (for full range of motion) to digital (a simple click to activate). All buttons can be reprogrammed through the dedicated PC applicationwhich will also be used to update the firmware of the controller.
We don’t yet know the official price of the ROG Raikiri Pro Controller, but it will be available in the second quarter of 2023.
