Two of Razer's prototypes have been reported missing. As the CES 2017 came to a close, reports came in that Razer fell victim to thieves.
It was not initially clear what were stolen from their booth but an update on the story revealed that a couple of Project Valerie laptops were taken from the press room around 4 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 8.
In a Facebook post, Razer CEO in-Liang Tan condemned the theft and is looking at a possible case of industrial espionage as the reason why their two prototypes went missing.
"We treat theft/larceny, and if relevant to this case, industrial espionage, very seriously - it is cheating, and cheating doesn't sit well with us."
Tan went on to express how his company worked hard to develop such innovations only to have them stolen by petty thieves or corporate spies.
"At Razer, we play hard and we play fair. Our teams worked months on end to conceptualize and develop these units and we pride ourselves in pushing the envelope to deliver the latest and greatest."
Tan has also asked help from the public particularly those who were at the CES 2017 who may have seen or heard anything about the crime to come forward. He promised that "all information provided will be kept in the strictest of confidence". He also offered a $25,000 reward for first-hand information that would lead to the arrest of the perpetrator or perpetrators.
Razer has been making a lot of noise since unveiling two of their prototypes. Project Valerie and Project Ariana were, in fact, instant hits at the CES 2017. Project Ariana was even cited by Engadget as the Best Gaming Product and also won the People's Choice Award at the recently-concluded tradeshow. Ariana is a Chroma projector while Valerie is a laptop with three 17.3-inch 4K displays. Some camps are calling both prototypes as the future of gaming.
This is actually the second time that Razer has been victimized by thieves. Back in 2011, a couple of Blade prototypes were taken from the company's San Francisco R&D laboratory.
