A Li’l Look At Gaming Mouse Sensor Marketing

Who has the best fake brand name for their PixArt sensor?

Photo taken by the author.

Gaming mice have come a long way over the last half decade, and much of their technological innovation is thanks to a company named PixArt. They make the small optical cameras that live inside the bottom of most gaming mice, and their sprawling catalog of different sensor parts dominates the entire range of mainstream products.

Almost every major gaming peripheral company uses either an off-the-shelf PixArt sensor in their mice, or one that’s been gently tweaked with custom firmware or faster processing chips. Mouse marketing would be a tad boring for the gaming populace if everyone just listed the internal components they used on the box (unfortunately), so as part of their licensing deals with PixArt, manufacturers can slap on a custom brand.

Some of these are great — and some of them, not so much.

I was neither paid by nor asked by any of the featured companies to write this, and I don’t use any affiliate links in my stories.

Here’s a look at some of the biggest brand names for these tiny cameras, and my pick for the best.