Razer Acquires Majority Of THX Ltd Assets
by Brett Howse on October 18, 2016 12:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Accessories
- Audio
- Razer
- THX
Today, Razer acquired the majority of the assets of THX, including the management and employees of THX. THX will continue to operate as an independent subsidiary of Razer, under its own management. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
This is a bit of an interesting acquisition by Razer, a company that focuses quite heavily on the PC gaming market, from systems, to accessories. THX is an audio company founded in 1983 by George Lucas, and for the past thirty-three years, they have focused on cinema audio systems, home audio systems, and audio certification.
THX will continue to focus on its three main areas of business. The Certification business is one that they are likely most known for, and the THX logo on a piece of equipment means that the equipment has been tested and passed a set of criteria determined by THX, and over the years that certification has expanded outwards to more devices, and more levels of certification. THX Live! Is a second area of the company, where they focus on providing the best possible audio experience at large venues, as well as replicating that kind of experience in the home. THX Inside focuses the technologies inside of equipment.
One big change from this announcement is that THX is going to now offer additional certification lines for headphones, Bluetooth speakers, streaming video, set-top boxes, and connected speakers. It’s pretty easy to see the Razer influence here, since Razer is a peripheral maker of many of these devices, so it would be pretty easy to see this collaboration in the future. A THX certified set of Razer Man’O’War 7.1 headphones would certainly be a great place to start, and any assistance by the audio engineers at THX to make the product better will be a good result. Razer also offers not only headphones, but also computer speakers like the Leviathan, which also offer Bluetooth connectivity, and they even have a streaming system in the Forge TV, so the advantages to Razer to own an audio engineering company seem pretty solid. THX has also been dabbling in VR, and Razer is a major sponsor of the OSVR kit.
The advantage to THX is of course better funding. Razer has been very successful as a brand, and an infusion of funding will enhance their efforts.
Although this is not an acquisition most people would have foreseen, there are some nice advantages to both parties on this. The THX brand has been diluted a bit over the years, so if anything it would be great if an infusion of funds from Razer would help stabilize this, and reciprocation of solid audio engineering for Razers products definitely seems like a win for them. I’m looking forward to seeing the improvements the two companies can make together on the products I use.
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Senti - Tuesday, October 18, 2016 - link
I definitely disagree about Razer mice. Mouse that can't properly work without custom (and also awful) drivers is garbage to me. I'm fine with installing that awful software in VM to configure the mouse once, but it must not be requited on my main system.igavus - Sunday, October 23, 2016 - link
That's not true. It just works under any OS I've used it on. I own several of their mice and they work wonderfully under FreeBSD/Linux/Solaris. Sure, I don't get to customize the mouse in any way but I don't really need to. They simply have the best ergonomics out there, bar none that I've tried so far.edzieba - Tuesday, October 18, 2016 - link
Well damn, that's a "how the mighty have fallen" headline. I can't see this doing anything other than devaluing the THX certification (what little it had left, anyway).wrkingclass_hero - Tuesday, October 18, 2016 - link
"One big change from this announcement is that THX is going to now offer additional certification lines for headphones, Bluetooth speakers, streaming video, set-top boxes, and connected speakers."Great, further dilute THX's waning brand significance. Eventually THX will just be an icon on the boxes of crappy Razer headphones.
3ogdy - Tuesday, October 18, 2016 - link
Razer: How can we hurt them? By making them pay us for their distinctive features.OK, buy THX and have Logitech brag about using competitor's technology.
At this point, Logitech might as well look for other certifications.
I never thought Razer would get in the theater audio business, so that's interesting. I also must day I've never personally owned any of their products, but I've used a few and while they don't seem anything special, I can't talk about their reliability. I've used tons of Logitech products, every since I spent over $100 on a Desktop Navigator kit. I was impressed with design and quality so I remained a fan over the years. The problem with Logitech nowadays is they are carrying H. I. V. from Microsh¡t and their newer products have worse design and less functionality than the ones they replace. Way to go, Logitech. Oh and the pricetag either went up or remained the same.
lurker22 - Tuesday, October 18, 2016 - link
Isn't THX that horrible certification that your sound mix is almost entirely in the bass range and pumped up volume 10x higher than necessary?dsraa - Tuesday, October 18, 2016 - link
I imagine I'd see THX certified headset from them soon.....jsntech - Tuesday, October 18, 2016 - link
Haha...you read my mind.zodiacfml - Tuesday, October 18, 2016 - link
THX certified Razer devices? Yeah, there's probably a small value to it.Yet, as mentioned, this is much more about getting the engineers and knowledge to create even more expensive Razer stuff.
Gunbuster - Tuesday, October 18, 2016 - link
THX stickers for everyone!!