SteelSeries (styled as steelseries) is a Danish manufacturer of gaming peripherals and accessories, including headsets, keyboards, mice, controllers, and mousepads. SteelSeries was acquired by

GN Store Nord GN Store Nord A/S is a Danish manufacturer of hearing aids (GN ReSound/GN Hearing) and headsets ( Jabra (GN Audio)). GN Store Nord A/S is listed on NASDAQ OMX Copenhagen (ISIN code DK0010272632). History The Great Northern Telegraph Company ...

in 2021.

History

SteelSeries was founded in 2001 by Jacob Wolff-Petersen. The company's original name was Soft Trading, and it was changed to SteelSeries in 2007. Soft Trading made the

Icemat Icemat is a manufacturer, distributor and online retailer of a line of products targeted primarily at computer gamers. The company was founded in 2001 partnerships A partnership is an arrangement where parties, known as business partners, agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, business entity, businesses, interest-based organizations, schoo ...

across the esports and the gaming ecosystem. In 2012, SteelSeries received investments of undisclosed amounts from U.S.-based private equity firm Catterton Partners and China-based private equity firm ClearVue Partners. Their popular products include their Rival and Sensei series of mice, Arctis headsets, and Apex keyboards. They also have made 5XL mousepads (QcK line). SteelSeries often creates limited edition collaborations, such as the Valve CS:GO Howl Edition mouse and mousepad, and the

CD Projekt CD Projekt S.A. () is a Polish video game developer, publisher and distributor based in Warsaw, founded in May 1994 by Marcin Iwiński and Michał Kiciński. Iwiński and Kiciński were video game retailers before they founded the company, whi ...

Cyberpunk 2077 ''Cyberpunk 2077'' is a 2020 action role-playing video game developed by CD Projekt Red and published by CD Projekt. Set in Night City, an open world set in the ''Cyberpunk'' universe, players assume the role of a customisable mercenary kn ...

headset. In July 2019, SteelSeries was acquired by

Axcel Axcel is a leading Nordic private equity firm with offices in Stockholm and Copenhagen. Since its foundation in 1994, Axcel has made 68 platform investments and today the firm owns 19 companies across all four Nordic countries. Axcel invests in ...

, a Nordic private equity firm. In April 2020, SteelSeries acquired Nahimic audio software developer A-Volute, and in December 2020, SteelSeries acquired gaming accessory manufacturer KontrolFreek. In October 2021,

announced plans to acquire SteelSeries from Axcel for 8 billion DKK (about US$1.25 billion). The deal closed on January 12, 2022 officially making it a subsidiary.

Team and player sponsorships

SteelSeries supports a number of

electronic sports Esports, short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, individually or as teams. Although org ...

teams and individuals through sponsorships and community support. Sponsored teams include

FaZe Clan FaZe Clan (formerly FaZe Sniping) is a professional esports and entertainment organization headquartered in Los Angeles, California, USA. Founded on May 30, 2010, the organization has players from around the world, across multiple games, i ...

, Evil Geniuses, Vitality, EDward Gaming,

Alliance An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

, among others. Past sponsorships include

Manuel "Grubby" Schenkhuizen Manuel Schenkhuizen (), better known as Grubby, is a Dutch real-time strategy gamer and former professional esports player. He competed in the RTS games ''Warcraft III'' (WC3), '' Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne'' and '' Starcraft II''. Grubby ...

and

Tom "Tsquared" Taylor Tom Taylor, known by the gamertag Tsquared, is a former professional gamer and captain of one of the most successful teams in Major League Gaming (MLG) history, Str8 Rippin, and was also the coach of Status Quo during the 2010 National Champion ...

in 2011.

Partnerships

SteelSeries has held partnerships with major companies in the gaming industry, including

Blizzard Entertainment Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher based in Irvine, California. A subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, the company was founded on February 8, 1991, under the name Silicon & Synapse, Inc. by three gradu ...

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the ...

, Hewlett-Packard (HP),

Gunnar Optiks GUNNAR Optiks is a company founded in 2007 that specializes in treated eyewear, marketed as safety glasses that protect eyes from computer vision syndrome. Gunnar eyewear has received considerable attention in technical media reviews, including P ...

Valve A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fitting ...

( Steam), MSI, and

Discord Discord is a VoIP and instant messaging social platform. Users have the ability to communicate with voice calls, video calls, text messaging, media and files in private chats or as part of communities called "servers".The developer documenta ...

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.steelseries.com/ Danish companies established in 2001 Computer peripheral companies Computing input devices Manufacturing companies of Denmark Manufacturing companies based in Copenhagen Companies based in Frederiksberg Municipality Pointing devices