Major League Gaming has announced that they have banned Razer’s Onza from competitive play. The reason given was that the two buttons on the controller were too easily programmable.
“We spoke to Razer about this and told them that it would be illegal if they kept the extra buttons,” wrote an MLG rep in the official forums. “I guess it wasn’t worth it for them to make a version without the extra buttons. The big issue with extra buttons is how easy it is to mod the controller without us being able to monitor it. Modders will be able to turn the extra buttons into rapid fire buttons or a macro like RRX. We cannot simply check every player’s Onza controller to make sure they have not modded it. Sure, someone could do that now with a Microsoft controller, but by doing that they are removing a default button on their controller. People pay a lot of money now for modded controllers with extra buttons that will rapid fire or macro. The Onza would make it impossible for us to monitor this on the circuit. ”
“Just to make it clear, there is no conspiracy here. I wish Razer would have listened to us and cared enough to make a version without the extra buttons, but they didn’t,” he concluded.
The way we see this, it’s a real marketing opportunity for Razer. Just like how the original Air Jordan was banned from the NBA (which was subsequently mentioned in a commercial, implying their high quality) they could promote the Onza as a controller that grants an unfair competitive advantage.
Source: MLGpro.com {link no longer active}
