Credit: Unsplash

Because… you demanded it?

During the Consumer Electronics Show back in January, the theme of the hour was, understandably, pandemic safety. Companies unveiled a variety of hands-free devices, disinfecting tools, and plenty of smart tech-powered face masks. Among all those high tech masks, there was one notable standout: Project Hazel. Project Hazel was unveiled by Razer, a company usually known for producing gaming PC peripherals that are covered in flashy RGB lighting, a trait shared by Project Hazel. At the time, viewers weren’t quite sure what to make of this thing; while smart masks are a cool idea, the idea of making one covered in RGB lights seemed a little silly. Today, though, Razer has confirmed that, silly as it is, Project Hazel is coming for real.

“We were thinking, this is a concept project and is this going to be relevant when vaccinations and everything has been rolled out,” Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan told Yahoo Finance. “I think moving forward we decided — and I can tell you now — we are going to proceed in making it a reality and ship the smart mask.”

“We’ve realised that even with vaccinations we are hearing you still have to be masked up because there is still the risk factor that even if you’re vaccinated you still need to be incredibly careful. Secondly, there are also many countries that are unlikely that are going to get the whole [scale] of vaccinations in the next year or even two so travelling everyone should be very careful.

Razer's crazy face mask concept is becoming a real product, RGB lights and all. https://t.co/WLF29nICrN pic.twitter.com/K4QA0KBOrS

— IGN (@IGN) March 26, 2021

“So with that in mind, we are going to go ahead and solve the sustainable aspect of the mask which is one of the big things for us. Project Hazel is going to be a reality. We are going to make it happen and I think we will all will be, unfortunately, wearing masks for a long time to come.”

Aside from its RGB lights, Project Hazel is slated to feature an N95-grade filter, a rechargeable ventilation system, a clear panel that’ll let people see your mouth, and a voice amplifier to make you easier to hear. Hopefully for Razer, the pandemic won’t already be over by the time they build this crazy thing.