I saw the maddest concepts of CES at Razer's suite, and they didn't win me over at all

It feels like I was in Vegas just yesterday, but we're already approaching a week since CES 2026 was actually in full flow, and I'm catching up on the very final parts of what I was able to see in a jam-packed few days of tech launches and showcases. Sadly for Razer, I haven't saved the best for last – but I can certainly say its suite of new products and concepts had memorable parts.

Razer made its name (and continues to do so) as a gaming accessory brand, with gaming mice and headsets really acting as its heartland, but it's branched out quite heavily in recent years. After successfully establishing itself as the maker of great, sleek laptops, it now seems to have been sipping from the AI cup, leading it to a couple of frankly baffling concept showcases at this CES.

The first, and the one that will actually be available to buy soon (apparently, since you can pay a refundable $20 to reserve one now) is a desktop upgrade for its AI companion software, Ava. This little tube will sit on your counter, presumably next to your PC, and project a small holographic figure internally, with a design chosen from a roster of extremely gamerish options.

The one I saw was predictably pretty anime-inflected in its stylings, although slightly more buttoned-down options will be available, too. Still, even after watching a demo of how the AI could react to on-screen action with tips and even criticisms, I just can't understand Razer thinking that it'll have widespread appeal.

Image 1 of 3

Sure, there's an angle where some coaching while you game could help you improve, but from what I saw that's quite a long way from being what Ava can offer. The projection is the really new bit here, meanwhile, and it's frankly just a bit too gamerish to win me over.

Then there's the elephant in the room – Razer confirmed at the show that Ava was running on a version of Grok, xAI's chatbot. You couldn't pick a more controversial time for that information to come out, given the rightly radioactive controversy swirling around Grok's nudification features, which stand to see it potentially banned in various countries.

It's a great summary of why AI launches can be so perilous and ill-conceived – two words that sadly also describe Razer's other big swing this CES, Project Matoko. I was told very earnestly about Razer's belief that smart glasses are a bad idea, with too many compromises, and that a better answer to bringing AI assistants with you is to house it in some headphones.

Hence this more distant concept, Matoko, which sees a Razer gaming headset modified with the addition of two front-facing cameras. You can talk to, and ask questions of an AI companion that you activate when wanted, presumably using a very similar model to Ava (although this wasn't confirmed).

Image 1 of 4

The hardware was perfectly decent here, and lightweight enough to be comfortable. I can even see how Razer can argue it's a more seamless integration into a headset than the equivalent in glasses (which get chunkier and heavier to accommodate the extra tech). All-day battery life is a plus, for example.

However, I just can't see how this product becomes a reality that people really want. Perhaps (and it's a big perhaps) if a brand like Apple launched a new version of AirPods Max with cameras, then people might get on board. But Razer? The gaming peripheral brand, becoming a provider of AI-enabled all-day headphones for regular use?

I just can't see how that makes sense at all, from a brand or a market perspective, and it makes it really tough to believe that this will ever really be widely available – or sell more than a relative handful of units.

In some ways, these concepts are a microcosm of the AI boom, in that Razer is far from the only tech brand trying to go big on AI and failing to win over actual customers. I'm very prepared to eat my hat if Project Matoko goes on to open up a new category of products, but for now I feel pretty confident that Razer will be better off sticking to what it knows better.