This Singapore Gaming Billionaire Is Betting AI Will Upend The Entire Industry

Forbes

Razer, founded and run by Min-Liang Tan for two decades, is prepping to release cutting-edge AI tools to help game developers produce games faster and cheaper and to coach players to sharpen their skills.  Read the full story on Forbes:https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkang/2025/09/03/this-singapore-gaming-billionaire-is-betting-ai-will-upend-the-entire-industry/  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00Today on Forbes, this Singapore gaming billionaire is betting AI will upend the entire industry.

00:08Across four floors of office and studio space at Razor's $75 million regional headquarters

00:13in Singapore, a mirrored black building recognizable by a towering fluorescent green neon logo of

00:19a triple-headed snake, the gaming hardware giant has been doubling down on its latest

00:24play, AI software tools.

00:28One weekday morning in August, two members from Razor's fledgling AI team huddle over

00:33their laptops in a live demo of new gaming software.

00:37The conference room setup is deceptively simple.

00:40On one laptop, synced with a large screen on the wall, a simulation game is being run.

00:45An avatar traverses an imaginary world when a brief pinprick of light appears on the monitor.

00:50It's not part of the game, rather, a software glitch has just been detected.

00:55A running log of technical issues, such as, quote, audio cutting out and, quote, enemy

01:00not reacting to player presence, is simultaneously displayed on the bigger screen alongside other

01:06gameplay metrics, with more detailed reports a mouse click away.

01:11On the second laptop, a video game is being played, and a Siri-like voice relays instructions

01:16on how to navigate a challenge.

01:19These programs are still in iterative testing and lack the sleek names of Razor's blockbuster

01:24products such as Death Adder, its ergonomic mouse, Black Shark, an eSports gaming headset,

01:31and the Black Widow keyboard.

01:33Yet, the company promises the quality assurance and coaching software tools it's developing,

01:38called QA Co-AI and Game Co-AI, respectively, will be game changers for the business.

01:46At Razor's base in One North, an enclave of high-tech companies in the city-state,

01:50where its newly opened AI Center of Excellence is also located, Min Liang Tan, Razor's 47-year-old

01:57chairman and CEO, casually attired in his trademark black t-shirt and jeans, says, quote,

02:03We believe that AI gaming is going to completely disrupt all of the game industry, and we want

02:08to be at the forefront of it.

02:11Razor's QA Co-AI, set to hit the market later this year, is aimed at giving game developers

02:17muscular performance-related software so they can produce games faster and cheaper, the company says.

02:23Its other offering, Game Co-AI, currently being beta tested globally, puts more power into the hands

02:29of players with real-time coaching to improve their skills. TAN is betting these new software

02:35products will unlock a fresh revenue stream at a time of sluggish growth in the $42 billion market

02:41for gaming hardware and peripherals, which account for about 90% of Razor's overall sales,

02:47according to the most recent data available. Hardware developers, relatively unscathed by

02:53previous economic downturns, today are feeling the pinch of higher costs, inflation-hit consumer

02:58spending, and supply chain uncertainties, according to an April report by PitchBook's

03:03senior research gaming analyst Eric Belomo. In comparison, AI in-game development,

03:10which includes AI-powered non-player characters, is on a growth trajectory, with the global market

03:15projected to expand to $28 billion by 2033 from $2.3 billion in 2023, according to New York-based

03:23research firm Market.us. Lou Wee-Tech, a global insight manager at data analytics firm Euromonitor

03:31International, notes that Razor's strategic pivot could help it evolve from a maker of gaming gear

03:36into a gameplay architect shaping how games are developed and experienced.

03:41As for Razor's investors, which include European buyout giant CVC Capital Partners – TAN and

03:47billionaire board member Lim Ka-Ling own about two-thirds of privately held Razor – harnessing

03:53AI would be a means to boost both earnings and Razor's valuation as AI taking the company public again.

04:00TAN says it's premature to set a revenue target for its AI push. He says, quote,

04:05For us, it's still early days, so we're still figuring out the monetization.

04:10He says that could extend to subscriptions to use its tools and licensing agreements with game

04:15companies for its AI models. He adds, quote,

04:18We do know that there's a huge demand for these products and services.

04:23PitchBook's Belomo notes that this is an evolving business model, saying, quote,

04:28While some companies have shown the ability to scale AI-native revenue lines,

04:32others are still testing whether AI can sustain price power.

04:37For full coverage, check out John Kang's piece on Forbes.com.

04:41This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes, thanks for tuning in.

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