Razer put a waifu in a bottle at CES 2026

Final yr Razer confirmed off Mission Ava as a digital assistant that lived inside your laptop to assist regulate settings or present gaming ideas. However now at CES 2026, the corporate’s AI companion platform has gotten a serious glow-up whereas transferring into some new digs.

Now, in lieu of being constrained completely to your PC’s display screen, Razer has given Project Ava an actual house within the type of a small tube that may show a 5.5-inch animated hologram of the AI’s avatar. You’ll nonetheless want to attach it to your laptop through USB-C to offer Ava with the ability and knowledge it wants. Nonetheless, your whole companion’s different elements are constructed into its abode, together with twin far-field mics so you’ll be able to speak to it, a down-firing full-range speaker so it might speak and an HD digicam with an ambient mild sensor so the AI can see and react to its environment.

However maybe the largest improve to the challenge is that as an alternative of simply Ava, who Razer describes as “a peaceful, dependable supply of vitality that can assist you preserve issues clear, environment friendly, and at all times on level,” there are three or 4 new personas (relying on how we’re counting) becoming a member of the roster. Kira seems to be like a TikTok e-girl decked out in a frilly outfit full with Razer neon inexperienced accents, whereas Zane is her edgy masculine different who form of jogs my memory of the Giga Chad meme, however with further snake tattoos. Then there’s Sao, who seems to be straight impressed by iconic Japanese salary woman Saori Araki. Lastly, there’s an avatar made within the likeness of Faker (Lee Sang-hyeok), essentially the most profitable and well-known League of Legends participant of all time and one among Razer’s sponsored esports athletes.

The thought now could be that as an alternative of being trapped inside your laptop, Ava or one among Razer’s different personas can sit in your desk and be your companion for all the things. They will remind you of upcoming occasions, reply to questions and even remark in your outfit utilizing Razer’s built-in digicam. That stated, when you want some privateness, the gadget’s mics will be muted and the corporate says its planning on placing a bodily digicam shutter on closing retail fashions. After all, Ava or any of the opposite avatars can nonetheless hang around when you recreation and provide you with recommendation. Throughout my demo, Kira helped select a loadout in Battlefield 6 based mostly on person standards and even supplied professionals and cons for a few of the recreation’s different tools choices.

Sadly, whereas I did get to see Kira and Zane speak, dance and sway of their little bottles, Sao and Faker weren’t fairly able to make their holographic debuts. However based on Razer, that’s form of by design as Mission Ava may be very a lot a piece in progress. Presently, the avatars’ responses are generated by X AI’s Grok (yikes!), however the platform was created as a form of open-source challenge that can help different fashions like Gemini or ChatGPT.

Down the road, Razer is hoping so as to add the power for customers to create their very own distinctive avatars and companions based mostly on their enter or inspiration from real-world objects. In the meantime, for avatars like Faker’s as a result of he’s additionally an precise individual, Razer desires extra time to make the AI companion useful with subjects like real-time League of Legends teaching.

That stated, whereas some people would possibly discover Mission Ava a bit bizarre or unnerving, it truly feels fairly tame (nearly cute even) in an period the place persons are already marrying their AI partners. And when you’re the form of one who prefers digital companions over flesh-and-blood options (you recognize, folks), I assume it’s form of good to have a extra tangible illustration of your digital waifus and husbandos.

Sadly, Razer has not supplied full pricing for Mission Ava’s holographic peripheral, although a consultant stated that it is going to be in the identical ballpark as the corporate’s different peripherals. I’m estimating a closing value of round $200. Reservations for Mission Ava are currently live with a $20 deposit earlier than official shipments start someday within the second half of 2026.