- Razer has just opened their Malaysian headquarters in UOA Corporate Towers, Kampung Kerinchi.
- The Malaysian headquarters will be Razer’s regional center of fintech innovation, esports excellence and talent development.
Razer is a brand that needs no introduction, and today, Malaysia received its very own touch of Razer with the launch of their new headquarters here.
At the event fully decked out with Razer’s signature colours of green and black, attendees included both Minister of Finance Lim Guan Eng, as well as Minister of Youth & Sports Syed Saddiq bin Syed Abdul Rahman and co-founder and CEO of Razer, Min-Liang Tan.
The headquarters currently houses 280 Razer employees in Bangsar South, or now known again as Kampung Kerinchi.
3 Focus Points
“Razer will be investing in Malaysia as a hub for our fintech efforts in South East Asia,” said Min-Liang Tan, co-founder and CEO of Razer.
At the launch, he mentioned that there are 3 main points that Razer will focus on over the next couple of years in Malaysia.
Firstly, they’ll be focusing on building the Razer Malaysia office as a fintech hub by bringing all the right talent and infrastructure.
“We have 280 staff kicking it off right here in Malaysia, so we’re fully committed,” he added. “We want to make sure that when we roll out digital payments in Malaysia and through the rest of the region, this will be the hub for us.”
“It is the first country in the world to be ready for Razer Pay, and we see the Razer Malaysia office as a natural springboard for our fintech efforts in the region.”
With over 500,000 users in less than a week of launching, it’s no surprise that fintech will be one of the main focuses here.
Secondly, on top of Min-Liang’s previous commitment to match the Malaysian government’s RM10 million allocation for esports, the new Malaysian headquarters is also a step in Razer’s commitment to develop Malaysia’s esports industry.
As a known figure in esports, Razer is an official esports partner for the upcoming 2019 SEA Games. As part of its esports initiatives, Razer plans to share its decade-long expertise in esports with the Malaysian gaming community.
This will include:
- Coordinating with industry partners to drive gaming events in Malaysia
- Bringing the gaming community together
- Looking to support Team Malaysia for esports at SEA Games 2019
Minister of Youth & Sports Syed Saddiq bin Syed Abdul Rahman added that Malaysia is ranked 21st in the world when it comes to esports development and revenue. With that said, he added that they see it evolving and growing bigger over the next few years thanks to new technologies like Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence.
“Malaysia must position itself but must find trustworthy partners,” said Syed Saddiq.
Lastly, Razer is also on the lookout for the next generation of tech talent in Malaysia and will collaborate with institutes of higher learning, provide training and mentorship programmes, and offer exchange programmes across the regional Razer offices.
More Than Just Gaming
Other than just building up the esports scene in Malaysia, Min-Liang sees Malaysia as a place that has great potential to do a couple of things and it’s not just about developing medal winning sportsmen.
“Razer is going to be doubling down and investing right here in Malaysia, we want to not just build esports athletes, but shout-casters, YouTubers, twitch streamers all of that,” he explained.
He also added that although the e-wallet space in Malaysia is crowded with the likes of GrabPay, Boost and others, he doesn’t view them as competition but actually sees it as an entire industry going cashless.
“We see them as potential partners, we’ve partnered with carriers and others, and we encourage and we believe that there will be multiple e-wallets out there in the future,” Min-Liang added.
During the end of the launch Min-Liang gave a sneak peek of what’s to come for Razer in Malaysia.
“10 million Ringgit is the smaller part of the whole equation,” he explained. “If esports goes a little bit further, if we’re going to be able to build a little bit more projects and assets over here, you’ll see some truly mega investments.”
“For what it’s worth, we’re just getting started.”
