MSI to crowdfund its Liberator gaming footswitch

by Mark Tyson on 16 March 2021, 12:11

Tags: MSI

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MSI Gaming in Taiwan has been teasing a gaming footswitch dubbed the Liberator for a few weeks. It is touting the design as providing relief for your worn fingers, as well as improving your competitive play in games. Now MSI is preparing a crowdfunding style early bird pre-order system which allows purchases of Liberator footswitches at approx £70 (TWD$2,790), instead of the £100 (TWD$3,900) post launch retail price.

The MSI Liberator is featured in an embedded video on its Facebook page, and you can find out more about the device from following the link it shares here, to an opinion-finding questionnaire (translator plugin may be required). From reading around I have compiled the following key specs and features.

MSI Liberator key features:

  • Omron footswitch is rated for >10 million actuations
  • Macro input functions triggered by left, right, and/or step switches
  • Up to four pedals can be daisy chained
  • Width adjustable via choice of three magnetically attached blocks
  • Pedal counterweight for reduced fatigue
  • Non-slip pad
  • RGB lighting
  • Braided cable

It is suggested that the MSI Liberator will be a good choice for gamers who enjoy racing, RPG, MOBA, shooting games, fighting games, and others. MSI also shows the pedal being used in productivity tasks, having been set up for copy-paste functions, for example. Another good use of this input device might be for people will accessibility issues.

Please note that this is a footswitch, distinct from a pedal. A footswitch offers a simple push button style input, while a pedal can provide variable levels of input – like an accelerator, for example.

Are any HEXUS readers interested in MSI's Liberator gaming footswitch at the pricing indicated?



HEXUS Forums :: 25 Comments

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Question: Why does MSI want to crowdfund something like this? If they wanted to check people's interest, you know, ask? I hate it when corporations thinks they need to “crowdfund”. Think Razer did the same a while back.

On topic, this is good for a drummer I guess. I can't use it as my foot doesn't even reach the floor… hmm… maybe I can use it as an expensive footrest!
I struggle as it is to remember which mouse keys I've assigned on different apps. Don't need a third set of controls. Also what happens if you accidently kick it? As I tend to do with my feet…

Also, seriously… RGB for a footswitch? How often will you look down at that RGB?
I really cannot think of a reason why I might want this, partly because I too would struggle to remember what does what in what game. I also wonder if there is room for someone with big wide feet, like me, to press the centre and not press the side switches, without twisting my ankle uncomfortably.
We musicians use foot switches in combination with tablets for digital music page turning, but a simple bluetooth pedal is all that's required. The ability to do more gestures is neat, but it needs to be bluetooth not wired.
I converted a old joystick to a foot switch,,,,, well 5 switches, as a old drummer it felt better than keybinds.

But that was 2 decades ago.
I know someone who operates his whole machine via his feet due to dodgy wrists and the pain he gets using conventional mouse. This is only a good thing, but I don't get why crowdfund? They are a big enough company to afford R&D