The Custom Keyboard Hobby Is Dying. Here's Why

This video is about the state of the Custom Keyboard Hobby. This is just my opinions on the matter that may differ from yours or anybody else's. The comment section is a place to chat about our differing opinions and I love reading and responding to them. Thank you and Please subscribe as we are so close to 100 subscribers!

[kuftamarc]

If the major switch manufacturers ever agree to a single standard for low-profile switches, it could spark a whole new renaissance in low profile keyboards the same way Cherry's patent expiration sparked all the innovation in conventional mechanical keyboards. Right now, low profile is a mess of incompatible boards, switches, keycaps, and stabs.

[HipyoTech]

The keyboard hobby isn't dying, its just shifting. There's actually never been more people in the hobby, and I'm seeing meetups hit numbers people would have only dreamed of. There's a big sense of doomer mentality as some people naturally get bored of the hobby, and I think more people need to just admit they are burned out and need a break.

Group buys are bad for the hobby as a whole, but they offer outlets for innovation that would have never been funded by a vendor. They are also getting significantly shorter as brands like QK and WS start board production long before the sale period. However, there's never been more in stock options for people just stumbling on the hobby, there's almost no point to joining a GMK group buy nowadays.

The hobby is also the cheapest and most accessible it's ever been, every month another cheaper kit with shorter lead time comes out - and now some incredible boards are available at a fraction of what they would cost in 2020. If anything, it's almost too accessible as most people will only interface with the hobby by purchasing a kit and maybe some keycaps.
(But that's okay - not everyone is nerdy enough to buy 10 keyboards)

Innovation is probably your strongest point, but as you mentioned - hall effect will be the next big thing and will bring a LOT of gamers into the hobby for the first time.
There's also always going to be a really passionate corner of the hobby making things for small runs because they enjoy it, those are the people who will innovate the most.

[simplycrisp]

i agree that these are real problems in the keyboard hobby, especially group buys, but it's gotten better over the years and i think 2023 was a really strong year for keyboards. group buys are getting less common, instock keyboards are getting more common, and budget keyboards keep betting better and cheaper. i think 2024 is going to be a good year for people in the hobby, especially with the rise of hmx switches so soon in the year.

[nunyadambidniss]

Actually, My main thing besides price is a lack of low profile options ;)
Mech Caps sit too high with too much travel compared to scissor switches.

[MyReviews_karkan]

Im ok with keyboards getting cheaper. Anything over $100 is NOT budget.

[rocketskids]

As someone who is old enough to remember when the Model F first came out I find this rather laughable. With all of the "innovation" in the "hobby" over the past decade, it still isn't making something to the quality of what was available 40+ years ago. But as someone making the transition from a laptop back to the desktop, I'm glad that I can now buy a keyboard that doesn't suck. From my point of view, the industry still has one hell of a long way to go to get back to where things were 40 years ago.

[Triplechomending]

4. the big g4m3r companies which are supposed to bring economies of scale are actually bringing the enshittification of their attached software

[bigfishoutofwater]

For innovation ideas: curved non-planar geometry for the keys mounts, keys that follow a slight curve instead of going straight down, programmable force curves and actuation points using electromagnets, or a slide out crumb tray, AI goal-based keyboard designs, each individual key being an independent keyboard that can modularly connect to keys next to it like legos, etc. Most of these ideas would make the cost problem much worse.

[lieljensen]

In order to understand the reason why group buys exist you kind of have to understand the way keyboards and other components in the hobby are made. Mainly talking about barebone kits here, but I'm sure things like keycaps work in a similar fashion.

To successfully manufacture your design, even if passes the multiple ICs, you would need to sign a contract with a manufacturer. Manufacturers are often big companies who will not take any risks for you. Because of that, you have to essentially pay upfront for everything before any action could take place. Most of the creators in the keyboard scene are either very small teams of just a couple of people, or a solo developer, who simply cannot afford to take a risk of potentially being hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt if something somewhere goes wrong or if the product won't sell as well as it is supposed to. Additionally, most manufacturers won't actually take orders of low quantities because usually premium customs require custom tooling to produce, which is simply not profitable unless you are willing to pay for X units. Take into account that just prototyping can cost thousands of bucks before even an argument could be made for mass production, and you have many creators just giving up on their designs.

GBs are a way to shift a big risk between a larger pool of people and ensure that a product is actually made beyond prototypes and mockups. I'm in no way a supporter of GBs, and this is definitely not the best way to handle production, but it is a way that the community adopted in the early days. Nowadays, it's the norm.

I completely understand when small creators push for GBs. That's just the only way we know how to handle production costs. But, if you were to ask me, bigger companies could take the risks just for the sake of being in stock. They don't, because it's easier for them to just double it and pass it to the next person (the consumer). That should change.

As of the other two points - absolutely. There's a lot to be said about the overall price point in this space - a lot of variables come in to play. But we are seeing a lot of big improvements in accessibility nowadays, take alu kits as an example (typing this on a Sugar65 lol). The more mainstream custom keyboards get - the easier it is to take marked up prices down. Just compare the reality of today to a couple of years ago - surely you can understand that we've evolved plenty. As for innovation... there is some, I suppose, but not nearly as much as I'd like there to be, for sure. The high end is mostly about the looks nowadays, for the overall premium of it. There are absolutely ways forwards though. As a tech nerd, discovering the "Hello World" keyboard project (look it up on YouTube) was definitely like having a wet dream. Sure, not everyone will need modifications this extreme, but just as an example of what could be. I think overall layouts and switches have great potential for innovation just due to the fact that it's an overload of "preference", but who knows.

For some reason this video made me write my first comment in ages at 3 AM.

[あなた以外の誰でもない]

I actually know a reason why group buys exist like this, and its because of manufacturers. to make a product from scratch, u need not only design, but also X ammount of money to produce the modules for ur design, and its cost start from 10k and above, and thats for the module alone, the manufacture of the product have not started yet. and to mass produce it u also need to reach certain numbers, like at least 50 orders for example, to make it worth it, cuz nobody is gonna waste 10k+ to just make 1 or 10 samples. they'll only give u samples after they receive the orders and money for it.

[ogerponreject]

Custom keyboards are really cool! I hope they don’t die out…

[AmorBuffer]

All of the innovation has gone into the split/DIY/ergo scene, I'm more excited about splits such as the Charybdis than yet another cherry clone switch.

[MangoTangoFox]

I don't think any of that is true at all... Group buys are far from the only option anymore, pricing for everything is absolutely tanking and you're getting more and more features at lower and lower budgets, and there is still a lot of innovation left (perfect factory lube on more varieties of switches, new mounting systems and finishes and colors which is then repeated for all the different layouts, wireless QMK/VIA specifically with all the functionality which not all current ones have, new foams and reflection layers and color changes to them for better RGB, etc.).

[VectorAero]

A more accurate title would be "Why group buys suck". I only recently fell into the keyboard rabbit hole and am finding so much accessible stuff on AliExpress and Amazon. The only thing that annoys me about the hobby is that there is just too many switch options out there - and the only way to know if I'll like a switch is to try it first, which is often not easy in an online marketplace.

[reillocb]

I'm more into ergo split keebs, innovation is alive and well in that space

[TarunSuresh-xszr]

At least they getting so much cheaper fr, GBs and GMK arent even a problem anymore

[serenity]

Still waiting for my Cycle7 for my first GB but next probably not joining anymore. 😂

[PrimeKeroHS]

There is literally more selection than ever and the prices for solid level barebone sets with great quality builds is next to none now. Got a fantastic Hi75 exploded 75%, currently using some gateron milky yellow pros [using my Boba U4Ts in a different keyboard atm] and some clone cherry mx keycaps all for under £100, and the overall typing experience is phenomenal. I love it.

The thing I was hoping you'd mention, especially being a fellow Brit, was those damn ISO layouts. The selection for us Brits and a good number of Europeans is definitely smaller, which is something I know is off-putting for a good number of my friends. They want to get into custom keyboards and see loads of great value pre-builds or barebone kits for extremely affordable prices just to find out everything is bloody ANSI only.

[АклызМелкенды]

I'm kinda glad that it's possible to get 40-60 dollar keyboard which sounds as good as 300+ dollar ones several years ago, if anything, this is progress

[AleksandraNowosielska-ug]

i mean how many keyboards do you need xd