HP is buying HyperX's peripherals line

[Middcore]

Summary

HP is buying HyperX from Kingston, but it appears HP only wants the peripherals business. Kingston is keeping everything on the memory side. 

 

Quotes

Quote

 

HP has announced that it is acquiring gaming peripheral company HyperX for $425 million. The purchase will give HP a major foothold in the gaming accessory market.

 

This transaction will result in HP buying the HyperX brand from Kingston, the current owner, but HP notes in the announcement post that “Kingston will retain the DRAM, flash, and SSD products for gamers and enthusiasts.”

 

HP has been making strides to enter the gaming peripheral space for the last several years under the Omen brand, but it has not gained much traction compared to competitors such as Corsair, Logitech, and Razer.

 

 

My thoughts

 HP is smart enough not to destroy everything that made HyperX valuable by trying to rebrand it all as "HyperX Omen" or whatever...right? (How many people remember the Omen brand used to be an independent company they bought out?) 

 

Since Kingston is keeping all the DRAM/flash stuff, I don't know if this means we'll no longer see HyperX-branded RAM? (How many people remembered Kingston was still HyperX's parent company?)

 

Sources

https://www.theverge.com/2021/2/24/22298904/hp-acquires-hyperx-kingston-announcement

[Blademaster91]

This is really disappointing, Kingston HyperX headsets are some of the better gaming headsets in my opinion.

I expect that HP will probably cut cost on the HyperX brand.

[sub68]

I don't like this.

really HP of all companies.

Yes I am agents this even tho I have a HP prebuilt (from 2011 b4 hp went completely bad)

 

[Middcore]

20 minutes ago, ONOTech said:

I acutally bought this the other day! I was wondering why I never saw HP ram before but now it makes sense

HP V6 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4 3000MHz DIMM CL16 Desktop Memory Kit - Blue - (7TE39AA#ABC) at Amazon.com

HP-branded SSD's (which you can buy separately, not just inside their prebuilts) also exist I think. Don't know who the OEM is. I would assume we will continue to see those, since HP isn't buying Kingston's memory business.

[minibois]

Not sure what HP sees in HyperX to be honest.

Other than the Cloud series of headsets, HyperX isn't really that well-known of a peripheral maker. Their mice and keyboards aren't much special either. Maybe patents? not sure.

5 minutes ago, Middcore said:

HP-branded SSD's (which you can buy separately, not just inside their prebuilts) also exist I think. Don't know who the OEM is. I would assume we will continue to see those, since HP isn't buying Kingston's memory business.

As far as I know, the HP EX950 for example uses a controller from Silicon Motion and NAND from Micron.

[Middcore]

5 minutes ago, minibois said:

Not sure what HP sees in HyperX to be honest.

Other than the Cloud series of headsets, HyperX isn't really that well-known of a peripheral maker. Their mice and keyboards aren't much special either. Maybe patents? not sure.

 

I mean, they may not be Logitech but they're miles ahead of where HP is in the peripherals space with Omen. There's an Omen-branded wireless charging mouse pad I briefly looked at last year when I had a wireless charging phone, and I've seen a couple of mice. I have no idea what other Omen peripherals exist. 

 

For brand recognition/mindshare in the gaming peripherals space (NOT a reflection of quality either way, before someone gets mad at me) I'd say Logitech, Corsair, and Razer are the top tier, and then HyperX is firmly in the second tier with brands like SteelSeries and CM. 

[Radium_Angel]

42 minutes ago, Middcore said:

 HP is smart enough

Hahahahahahahaha.

If you actually look at the history of HP, you will see anything but...

They'll find a way to wreck it, they've destroyed better brands than HX in the past (see: Compaq)

[Huandeage]

I just hope they don't mess with their HyperX Cloud headsets.

 

[Onehandstander]

6 hours ago, Blademaster91 said:

This is really disappointing, Kingston HyperX headsets are some of the better gaming headsets in my opinion.

I expect that HP will probably cut cost on the HyperX brand.

The cloud series of headsets, most notably the cloud 2, are all produced in the same line as the Takstar pro 80's, a company that almost no one in the gaming space knows about. Hyperx did an amazing job of bringing a product with such great price/performance into the gaming space and making them accessible for almost all gamers. I'm begging HP to not change this process, it's what gives hyperx the quality they are known for.

[Middcore]

Pretty sure I've seen headsets identical to various HyperX Cloud models (IE Takstars) being sold under other brands on Amazon, like Mpow. 

[BayShrimp]

I am baffled by this - doesn't HP already have Omen brand for gaming? Why not just creating your own?

[Middcore]

5 minutes ago, BayShrimp said:

I am baffled by this - doesn't HP already have Omen brand for gaming? Why not just creating your own?

Because as the article notes, Omen has hardly been a roaring success. To the extent the brand is known for anything, it's for hotbox prebuilt systems, and for peripherals it isn't a player at all. 

 

And HP didn't even create Omen. HP bought out a boutique high-end system integrator called VoodooPC back in 2006, and if memory serves Omen was originally a model name VoodooPC used to market some of their PC's.

[D13H4RD]

1 hour ago, BayShrimp said:

I am baffled by this - doesn't HP already have Omen brand for gaming? Why not just creating your own?

Because they suck at actually marketing their Omen lineup. It's not like other gaming brands like ROG from ASUS where the company spends a ton in R&D and especially the absolute shit out of marketing to turn it into the brand juggernaut it is.

[Chiyawa]

I'm actually surprise by this.

 

HP Omen is okay, not the best, but overall not bad, actually.

[Doobeedoo]

Hm odd but ok though.

[Quackers101]

oh god, now HP will get you insurance fraud with your next headset and do "common" business practices.

[minibois]

16 hours ago, Middcore said:

I mean, they may not be Logitech but they're miles ahead of where HP is in the peripherals space with Omen. There's an Omen-branded wireless charging mouse pad I briefly looked at last year when I had a wireless charging phone, and I've seen a couple of mice. I have no idea what other Omen peripherals exist. 

Omen has basically the same stuff as HyperX.

Mice, keyboards, headsets, mousepads. Most of these catagories only have a single or a couple product, but so is the case with HyperX in my experience.

16 hours ago, Middcore said:

For brand recognition/mindshare in the gaming peripherals space (NOT a reflection of quality either way, before someone gets mad at me) I'd say Logitech, Corsair, and Razer are the top tier, and then HyperX is firmly in the second tier with brands like SteelSeries and CM. 

In my experience, HyperX only has the brand recognition because:

1. the Cloud headset

2. they are (were I guess) Kingston and people know Kingston from their memory

[Middcore]

30 minutes ago, minibois said:

Omen has basically the same stuff as HyperX.

Mice, keyboards, headsets, mousepads. Most of these catagories only have a single or a couple product, but so is the case with HyperX in my experience.

 

HyperX's website lists 7 headset models (9 if you count revisions), 7 keyboards, and 6 mice. There is no "the Cloud headset," all of the models are the Cloud something-or-other. 

[minibois]

2 minutes ago, Middcore said:

HyperX's website lists 7 headset models (9 if you count revisions), 7 keyboards, and 6 mice. There is no "the Cloud headset," all of the models are the Cloud something-or-other. 

Sorry, I missed an 's' in my previous post. It should have said:

32 minutes ago, minibois said:

1. the Cloud headsets

I know there is the original Cloud, Cloud II, Cloud Revolver, Cloud Stinger, etc.

 

Just for reference, the HP Omen website mentions:

3 headsets

3 keyboards

5 mice

1 mousepad

 

HyperX website mentions:

7 headsets

7 keyboards

6 mice

2 mousepads

 

My main point anyways was this:

17 hours ago, minibois said:

[HyperX's] mice and keyboards aren't much special either

Referring to the idea that the headsets are well-known, but the rest isn't that special, meaning I was wondering if they mostly did it for the patents, name or something else.

[SpikeSpiegel]

HP RMA service is bad.  Their HP SSD's are a joke.  A 3rd party vendor does the RMA for the S700/S700 Pro SSD's RMA's and you have to register the products on HP website and it doesn't work.  So make sure to keep the invoice.    Then you have to file an RMA on their 3rd party website which is completely broken as well.  Also HP is going to destroy the Hyper X name.....

[Fnige]

1 hour ago, SGT-AMD said:

 

yes?

[FRD]

I really hope HyperX won't be ruined by HP like other people say. HyperX being managed by Kingston does pretty good in the market. I personally like their headphones and RAM. I also do own HP Omen products, but they are a different class than HyperX. HP Omen is more niche while HyperX is for everybody. A good example is HP Omen's Mindframe headphone which is $199 and has cooling for your ears. As for HyperX most products are much more known because of HyperX's marketing and good mouth-to-mouth reviews.

[minibois]

10 hours ago, SGT-AMD said:

That is 11 mice to kill. Cat will be very busy for the next few days!

ಠ_ಠ

Why did you reply to my post within that quote anyway..?

[SpikeSpiegel]

I didn't know that HP had RGB DD4 RAM sticks?

 

 

[WaitWhaaaaat]

On 2/25/2021 at 4:40 PM, CalintzJerevinan said:

HP RMA service is bad.  Their HP SSD's are a joke.  A 3rd party vendor does the RMA for the S700/S700 Pro SSD's RMA's and you have to register the products on HP website and it doesn't work.  So make sure to keep the invoice.    Then you have to file an RMA on their 3rd party website which is completely broken as well.  Also HP is going to destroy the Hyper X name.....

If you are corporate customer their support is actually pretty good. When I call directly for support as employee of my company, technician visit me next day and replace broken part on site.

If you are just a single customer just stay away from HP as far as possible.