Made in Germany
Why made in Germany?
Because first of all, I live here and I can easily get a lot of high-quality material locally. But also because I believe there is still an appreciation for the iconic German non-nonsense design philosophy and the somewhat cliché over-engineering that makes products sleek on the outside, but rich in features on the inside.
What makes it better?
I'm a gamer myself and I actually use the stuff I build. My ideas don't come out of thin air or are just copies of other products. They come up when I feel a genuine need to build or improve on something. And I really strive to build things as best as possible. Because I use and build that stuff, it is very easy to gradually make it even better and better. Also if you ever have any questions or need custom work to be done, I'm available to just chat anytime you want.
Why does it cost so much?
Here is a simple example calculation for one M sized controller:
- Material and parts, including taxes: 70€
- Having the life-long experience to engineer a feature rich and ergonomic device and also knowing how to put everything together: 70€
- Average business taxes I have to pay: 30€
- VAT, because I have the legal small business owner status and therefore do not have to collect VAT from customers: 0€
- Average shipping costs worldwide: 10€
On one hand I do pay comparatively high taxes on materials and sales which directly benefits Germany/the EU. On the other hand position 2 is the biggest part which people often overlook in a lot of other products too. Gathering the experience, being able to design and engineer a product that suits the users needs and putting the time and labor into doing so, is the most important part. Unfortunately it's also mostly invisible. I have therefore put up a couple of videos explaining the build and design process on youtube.