Following a mixed-at-best reaction to launching a pre-order campaign for a $196 mouse without a final design, Sentinels’ VALORANT superstar TenZ issued an apology today and has temporarily frozen any future pre-orders.
In a lengthy post, TenZ acknowledged that “making a mouse from scratch and releasing pre-orders before the mouse is even finished… was super ambitious.” He says looking back, it “was a stretch to attempt to sell a mouse that had no finalized shape, specs, or weight.”
In his apology post, TenZ also attempted to set the record straight that the mouse project was not “a quick cash grab,” citing his well-known passion for gaming peripherals, mice in particular. TenZ said the mouse is still being developed and that updates will be available to “people who actually care,” but also froze any future pre-orders. Those that have already pre-ordered will also be sent an email that gives them a choice between fully refunding the purchase or keeping it. TenZ’s apology also contained “a super early prototype” of what the mouse’s shape will look like, posted above.
The project, dubbed TenZ Secret Mouse, originally went live on the store page of TenZ’s website on Nov. 27, with 20,000 presale units available at a price of €179, or roughly $196. While the mouse’s store page listed a number of confirmed features, it also noted that that the ambidextrous shape was a “work-in progress” with more design updates set to be revealed “soon” on TenZ’s Discord channel. The listing also gave a shipping ETA of Summer 2024.
The long wait time and the non-finalized details combined with the rather high price point didn’t sit well with a number of fans. However, just looking at the replies of TenZ’s apology post, it appears that there’s no shortage of fans willing to spend on his dream mouse, especially now that they’ve seen the prototype image.
