Razer’s $500 million IPO is affirmation that PC gaming is red hot

The only thing glowing brighter than one of Razer's RGB peripherals is its share price. After listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (with the stock code 1337, no less) to offer shares of the technology firm for the first time, Razer's stock jumped around 40 percent over its open IPO price, raising around US$529 million. Minus fees and services, Razer was left with $504 million.

"One element supportive to the Razer share price is favorable sentiment towards IPOs these days," Ke Yan, an independent analyst who contributes to research aggregator Smartkarma, told Bloomberg. "Valuation aside, Razer has a line up of heavyweight investors and apparently Hong Kong investors buy the Li Ka-shing story."

Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan told CNBC in September that it wanted to go public so it would have a war chest to enable the company to invest more into research and development. Ultimately Razer wants to continue attempting to disrupt the market and "make cool products."

The most recent example of this is the introduction of its first smartphone with a 120Hz display (the first of its kind on a phone) and 8GB of RAM. It is a high-end Android device intended for gamers, but without over-the-top gimmicks. The phone is competitively priced for a flagship handset too, at $700.

Perhaps more than anything, though, Razer's strong IPO shows how popular PC gaming is. According to TechCrunch, three-quarters of Razer's revenue comes from PC gaming peripherals, such as specialized mice and keyboards. Razer also sells gaming laptops.

Razer going public does not have a direct impact on games, but the successful debut could lead to some interesting products down the line.

Paul has been playing PC games and raking his knuckles on computer hardware since the Commodore 64. He does not have any tattoos, but thinks it would be cool to get one that reads LOAD"*",8,1. In his off time, he rides motorcycles and wrestles alligators (only one of those is true).