Corsair to Enter Personalized Peripherals Market with Drop Acquisition

Corsair on Monday said that it had agreed to buy Drop, a leading maker of personalized peripherals, such as keyboards. The market for bespoke hardware is growing these days as many gamers want to have peripherals with distinctive looks and be able to modify their parts themselves. Corsair is particularly interested in keyboard-related assets of Drop.

"Personalized Keyboards that can be modified by the consumer is one of the fastest growing trends in the gaming peripheral space," said Andy Paul, Founder and CEO of Corsair. "Drop has proven to be one of the leaders in this space and with Corsair's global footprint, we expect to significantly grow the Drop brand worldwide. We are also excited to be able to offer specialized Corsair and Elgato products to the enthusiast community that Drop is engaged with."

Drop, formerly Massdrop, specializes in crafting a range of personalized peripherals, primarily focusing on custom-made DIY keyboards, aftermarket keycaps, and desktop accessories. The company often collaborates with other hardware makers to build customized peripherals designed with community input. For example, the company has teamed up with Sennheiser, Epos, and even Focal (a maker of ultra-premium headphones) for audio gear. An interesting detail about these collaborations is that end products were cheaper than those traditionally made by Sennheiser, Epos, or Focal.

In addition, Drop recently broadened its product line to include 'Battlestation' items, which represent a variety of items used by gamers, starting from stands, chargers, and cables, and extending to lightbars, carrying cases, and air dusters.

Drop's past collaborations include The Lord of The Rings and Marvel Infinity Saga for licensed keycaps, which have seen the Drop community actively selecting new color schemes, designs, and in-demand styles.

"Corsair is the ideal partner to help Drop grow and continue to fulfill its purpose of creating amazing community-driven products," said Jef Holove, CEO of Drop. "With a worldwide sales and logistics footprint, we will be able to make Drop products more widely available, faster, while retaining the enthusiast-led product development that has seen millions of fans trust Drop for their setup and hardware."

Drop is set to maintain its independent brand identity under Corsair's umbrella. Furthermore, the Drop team will handle all ongoing warranties, purchases, and customer service inquiries.