By Claire Reilly
Plantronics is entering into the world of gaming with a new headset bundle designed for ultra-connected gamers and audiophiles which it bills, quite literally, as “gamechanging”.
The Plantronics Rig includes a set of over-ear headphones and a mixer that controls multiple inputs, allowing gamers to play on their PC, PlayStation or Xbox whilst listening to music off their MP3 player, Skyping on their tablet or taking a call on their smartphone. The mixer features a master volume dial as well as a switch for toggling between inputs, and two separate volume controllers for balancing different sound levels whilst playing.
While Plantronics’ national sales manager Peter Petrides said there were plenty of brands offering gaming headsets, the Rig was a “groundbreaking” product that adapted to the needs of modern connected gamers.
Unlike many gaming headsets on the market, he said Plantronics’ offering was designed to be used in-game and on the go. Users can remove the boom microphone (which is designed for game chat) and replace it with a standard 3.5-millimetre connected cord to play music from their smartphone. This cord also has an in-line microphone for making and receiving calls.
For Petrides, it’s all about offering consumers different options with one product.
“Gamers more choice than ever now — they have more ways to play, they have more people to talk to and they also have a lot more demands,” said Petrides. “The game players of today versus the game players of five years ago are very different. They’re always connected to their phones or their tablets. Rig immerses gamers in their virtual world while keeping them seamlessly connected to the real one.”
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As a dedicated gaming device that can be used across multiple gaming platforms, the Rig is a decided push into the gaming space for Plantronics, but according to Petrides, it’s a category that the brand needs to be in.
“PC gaming is extremely healthy – there are over 1 billion PC gamers worldwide and it will be worth $20 billion as industry at the end of this year, it’s a massive industry. If anyone says PC gaming is declining, that’s incorrect. Console is a massive industry as well, and we need to be connected to that. And mobility in gaming is huge; gamers are now dictating where they want to play.”
Petrides also had useful advice for retailers who think gaming is a niche area that can’t be catered for in a standard store.
“I’ve seen retailers be in deep with PC game software and they’ve been burnt with it because they don’t really get it,” he said. “It’s hard if you own a business and you’re selling fridges to understand games if you’re not a gamer. It’s hard to know things like what titles to bring in and how many to bring in.
“Many retailers have the mindset that they need the actual games themselves to be able to sell to gamers, but they don’t.
“If they have a console, they don’t need the games to go with the console — gamers can go buy games anywhere. They can go to Big W to buy a game and people are downloading games legally now.
“But does that mean retailers can’t sell a gaming headset? Of course not. Why wouldn’t they have headphones in their store? Does it mean they can’t sell the next funky keyboard for a gamer? Of course they can sell that.”
The Rig is available now for pre-sale through JB Hi-Fi and EB Games, and will go on general sale in those retailers, as well as Officeworks and Dick Smith, from 4 October. It will be available in white and black for RRP $149.
The Plantronics Rig headset.
A dedicated mixer included with the set allows gamers to toggle between game sound and personal music or phone calls, or balance both.
The Rig features an output for the headphones and an input for a smartphone or MP3 player.