While the big tech show of the year focuses on, well, the tech industry, gaming is also a large part of what CES has to offer. From the headliners like Nvidia’s new RTX 5000-series GPUs to speculative gear like Nintendo Switch 2 mock-ups from accessory makers, CES 2025 had plenty to get excited about. We were at the show this year to check out everything gaming related and these are the things to get excited about for the future of gaming.
Nvidia RTX 5000-series GPUs
One of the headliners of CES 2025 was Nvidia and CEO Jensen Huang kicked off the keynote by revealing the next generation of GPUs to power PC gaming – the GeForce RTX 5000-series. The new line of desktop video cards includes the RTX 5090, RTX 5080, RTX 5070 Ti, and RTX 5070 for now. Of course, we expect performance gains across the board with the better specs (including GDDR7 memory), but along with the cards comes DLSS 4.0 and improved multi-frame generation to boost frame rates significantly without sacrificing visual quality while also making room for better ray tracing techniques.
As expected, Nvidia also revealed the mobile versions of the RTX 5000-series GPUs which we’ll see in gaming laptops starting in Q1 2025. We saw one in particular running the RTX 5090 – the Razer Blade 16. So, it won’t be long until we see the new crop of gaming laptops hitting stores.
Both the RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 will be released on January 30 for $1999 and $999, respectively. We’ll keep you posted on the actual availability of the new RTX cards once they launch and will have in-depth reviews when the time comes.
Black State: A New Game Showcasing Nvidia’s Graphics Tech
We were able to see the upcoming third-person shooter called Black State at Gamescom 2024, but we went hands-on with a new alpha build of the game during the Nvidia Editor’s Day. It was used to showcase the performance of the upcoming RTX 5090 along with the benefits of DLSS, frame generation, and a full suite of ray tracing all working simultaneously. Black State is built on Unreal Engine 5 and was able to run upwards of 200+ fps at 4K, even hitting 300 fps at certain points based on in-game performance metrics.
Other than it being a technical showcase, Black State had solid shooting mechanics and features a cover system as you’ll end up in intense firefights in its contemporary sci-fi world. The catch with Black State is its “portal” system where certain doors lead to completely different worlds each time you open and close a portal door – and it’s able to do this without any loading times. Although the developers weren’t able to share any details about the story, they did say that the portal system has a narrative purpose.
AMD RX 9070 Video Card Benchmarked
Nvidia isn’t going unchallenged when it comes to new GPUs as AMD also revealed a new line of graphics cards. While the newly released Ryzen 7 9800X3D and Ryzen 9 9950X3D show AMD taking charge of high-end CPUs, it’s the RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT that’ll compete with Nvidia’s mid-to-high level GPUs. Funny enough, we were able to test out the RX 9070 for ourselves at CES 2025 with machines running Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. Of course, we weren’t able to run comparative benchmarks, rather we saw what it was capable of on the spot and the RX 9070’s results were impressive.
You can expect the RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 to launch sometime in Q1 2025, and when that time comes, we’ll be sure to keep you posted on availability and performance with our reviews and benchmarks.
Project Ava: Razer’s AI Game Coach
Razer always has some wild piece of tech in a prototype phase to show off at CES, but it has recently showcased more practical concepts that intend to hit the market. The most interesting thing Razer was showing at CES 2025 was Project Ava – an in-game AI assistant that analyzes your performance and coaches you, providing advice and suggested actions to take. We saw it being used live with a MOBA, and it’s intended to be akin to having an esports coach guide you through a competitive game. We asked about the ethical implications and Razer stated that Project Ava will work within the bounds of each game’s terms of service and will not provide players with information about probability or factors that aren’t readily apparent to the player. It will also provide post-match analysis to break down your performance with what you did right, what you did wrong, and how to improve.
It will also work for single-player games, and we saw it in action with Black Myth: Wukong against the Yin Tiger. Project Ava gave information about a boss’s moveset before the fight and told the player about visual cues, attack windows, and phase changes during the boss fight. Each time Project Ava was activated for an inquiry, we heard the server machine running it spin up fast, and like many AI applications, it’s a resource hog (though it doesn’t seem to be so for your local machine). Project Ava is planned to go into beta sometime this year.
Steam Deck Competitors Galore
It seems like every company that’s made gaming laptops has branched into handheld gaming PCs (ala the Steam Deck) to varying degrees of success. While the Asus ROG Ally has been at the top of the Steam Deck competitors, others such as Lenovo and MSI have dipped their toes in the market and we saw revamped versions of their handhelds at CES 2025.
While the updated Lenovo Legion Go might be the flagship of the company’s handhelds, it’s the slightly more compact Legion Go S that’s making the bigger splash. That’s because you can get a model of the Legion Go S that runs SteamOS as opposed to the standard Windows 11 that other handhelds use. It’s a big deal since this is the first time we’re seeing SteamOS running on a non-Valve handheld, which some prefer over Windows because it’s user friendly, stable, and built for running games properly (although you would be primarily tied to your Steam library of games). We got our hands on the Legion Go S and came away optimistic about its performance and pricing. Several SKUs will roll out this year starting with one running the Z1 Extreme processor coming out soon and another model with the upcoming and improved Z2 processor sometime in May.
Nintendo Switch 2 Mock-Ups
Continuing on the handheld gaming train is the not-so-official mockups of the Nintendo Switch successor, which we’ll just call Switch 2 for simplicity’s sake. Accessory maker Genki had physical shells of what’s presumably the Switch 2 on display at CES 2025 and we were able to check them out at the show. From appearances, it seems to be very similar to the original Switch with some slight changes, but one of the most notable differences is its size. Based on the unofficial mockup, the Switch 2 appears to measure at 10.5″ wide, 4.5″ tall, .5″ thick and with an 8″ screen. – the current Switch OLED model, which is 9.5″ wide, 4″ tall, .5″ thick, and has a 7″ screen. We’re sure to know more about the Switch 2 from Nintendo itself soon, and when that time comes, we’ll be here to report on it.
Hyperkin’s PS5-Style Xbox/PC Controller
Have you ever wanted to use a PlayStation DualSense on an Xbox? Okay, maybe not, but you can get really close with Hyperkin’s upcoming Xbox and PC controller called The Competitor. It borrows a lot from the DualSense’s design philosophy – symmetrical stick placement, similar bumper and triggers, familiar ergonomics, and the two-tone color scheme. The Competitor also has two programmable back buttons and features Hall Effect sticks and triggers for better reliability and durability.
We had the chance to use The Competitor at CES 2025 and was impressed with its overall feel and performance. The back buttons are placed just right and the Hall Effect sticks were smooth and accurate. It does feel similar to a DualSense, but since it’s a wired-only controller and doesn’t have the state-of-the-art features (haptics, motion controls, touchpad) of the DualSense, it’s much lighter. Hyperkin said it’s geared more towards PC gamers (and those who may have moved to PC for Game Pass) who prefer the PS5-style gamepad but want something that has wider native compatibility on WIndows (via Xinput).
Corsair’s Origin Arachnid Gaming PC
Origin PC has been known for fancy pre-built gaming PCs (that often come in special crates upon delivery). Now that it’s under the Corsair umbrella, we were able to see its latest extravagant build called the Arachnid. It’s a huge fully aluminum open-air case that takes on a spider-like design motif (hence, the name) with pumps and reservoirs for liquid cooling. It’s intended to be a high-end PC so it’ll be outfitted with the latest Nvidia RTX video cards and Intel/AMD CPUs, depending on your configuration. It’ll be available sometime in Q1 2025.
Project Arielle: Razer’s Chair with Built-In Hot-Cold Fans
Another one of Razer’s concepts was Project Arielle, a mesh gaming chair with built-in bladeless fans that can blast warm or cool air. While things like the new Blade laptop with an RTX 5090 or the universal handheld PC dock are more practical products in Razer’s suite, trying out this new chair was a standout at CES 2025.
The fans built into the chair are lined with We’re not sure how effective something like Project Arielle will be in the long-run and how practical it’ll be as an everyday office or gaming chair, but it sure is a unique idea.
