Corsair acquires custom peripheral retailer DROP

Corsair expands further by adding Drop into their brand portfolio

Recent years have seen Corsair’s size and scale explode, thanks mostly to a huge wave of acquisitions that have seen Elgato, Origin PC, and Corsair enter the fold. Now, Corsair has expanded again, this time by acquiring Drop, a company that focuses on custom keyboards and audio products.

Drop, formerly known as MassDrop, will operate under Corsair as an independent brand, so don’t expect to see Drop products with Corsair Logos anytime soon. Like Elgato, SCUF, and Origin PC, Corsair plans to take advantage of their global supply chains and retail network to make Drop’s products accessible to more customers and allow Drop to more easily access the parts they need.

Below is what DROP has to say about their acquisition by Corsair

    As many of you know, we celebrated our 10th anniversary last year. It has been quite a journey. From Massdrop to Drop, and from a unique group-buy site to today’s hybrid model that finds cool stuff other people make, while designing and manufacturing stuff ourselves, and at the same time moving more and more to an in-stock model. 

Today, I have the honor of sharing with you yet another step in our evolution. Drop has been acquired by Corsair. 

I am sure front-of-mind for you is what this will mean for Drop and our focus on our discerning, engaged enthusiast community – especially at a time when we’ve been watching other players in the community struggle or outright fold. Obviously, we are convinced this move is good for us, for you and for the hobby, and I’ll give you a sense of why here.

I know within the community Drop is sometimes seen as a “big” company, but you would be surprised how few-but-mighty our team is given the extraordinary range of products we have designed and/or discovered. I am incredibly proud of and grateful to our crew, who love what they do so genuinely. That said, from the response to our launch of Battlestations as a new community and collection of products, it’s clear you want us to do more.  And, we do too. As part of Corsair, we will. 

So first and foremost, Drop will continue as a brand, team and community within Corsair. You may already know that Corsair also owns Elgato, Origin and SCUF brands, which continue to operate independently. Being a part of Corsair will help our team deliver more of what you love. You’ll see new products from us soon that Corsair is just as excited about as we were in creating them. You’ll see new collabs with community favorites. Access to a world class supply chain will make getting you those products more reliable. With a global logistics capability behind us, we’ll also be able to do a fundamentally better job serving all of you outside the US who just want an easier, more affordable way to get the products you covet. 

And finally, we’ll have the wherewithal to remain here for you, listen to you, continue to expand the convenience of an in-stock model, and hunt down and present to you cool stuff. It won’t all happen overnight. 

It will take time. But we believe you will find this latest step a very good thing… and we know you’ll tell us how it’s going along the way. We sincerely hope you will join us in the next chapter of this journey. 

Corsair’s acquisition of Drop primarily focuses on Drop’s core DIY and custom keyboard business, and it is unclear how their acquisition will impact Drop’s other product lines, specifically audio. As of now, Corsair does not want to make any changes to Drop, though Corsair will no doubt be evaluating what they want to do with Drop’s non-keyboard product lines moving forward.

With both Corsair and Drop both being in the audio headset business, Drop and Corsair are effectively competing with themselves. Moving forward, it is unclear how these brands will interact within the audio market. Drop has previously created high quality audio products in collaboration with Sennheiser, EPOS, and multiple other high profile audio companies.

Will Drop continue releasing audio products under Corsair? Or will Corsair simply sell Drop’s Audio assets to another company?

You can join the discussion on Corsair acquiring Drop on the OC3D Forums.