Razer, one of the world’s pioneering supporters of e-Sports, has signed a groundbreaking pact with Japanese fighting legends and Super Street Fighter IV stars Keita “Fuudo” Ai and Hiromiki “Itazan” Kumada, which will see the duo compete for Team Razer in 2012 and assist with the development of the Razer Arcade Stick. Both players have a wealth of experience, competing against top-flight competition for the past eight years, amassing three Super Battle Opera victories, three EVO championships and two gold medals at the World Cyber Games between them.

Fuudo is no stranger to the international stage, entering the fray with a highly prestigious victory at Super Battle Opera forVirtua Fighter 4: Final Tuned in 2005, before going on to the win the same competition for Virtua Fighter 5 in 2008. In 2009, Fuudo won the World Cyber Games Grand Finals for Virtua Fighter 5 before switching to an all new game to be crowned the EVO 2011 champion for Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition. In his career, Fuudo has claimed four major titles in three different games, while supporting many up-and-coming communities and events.

“If you keep playing against strong players, you will naturally get stronger,” said Fuudo. “I value the knowledge and skills I can acquire from players outside of Japan, and being sponsored by Razer will provide us with the full support we need to travel to more tournaments and have more opportunities to learn from international players.”

Fuudo joins Razer with Itazan, one of the most respected players in the Street Fighter scene, and a player with a history of success in fighting titles. Itazan has twice won EVO, one of the two biggest fighting titles in the world, in 2004 and 2007 for the Virtua Fighter series. In the following year, he went on to win not only the World Cyber Games 2008 but also the esteemed Super Battle Opera Virtua Fighter 5R tournament.

“We’re seeing the fighting scene booming in the U.S., but Japan is really the heart and soul of fighting games,” said Robert “RazerGuy” Krakoff, President of Razer USA. “Fuudo and Itazan are both seasoned fighting game veterans. They’ve excelled at different titles for almost a decade, and have both won the two major fighting game championships, Super Battle Opera and EVO, both independently and as a team. The Razer Arcade Stick is still in the works, and what these two players can bring to its development is priceless.”

About Fuudo and Itazan
Fuudo and Itazan are two Japanese professional fighting game players who climbed to fame through the Virtual Fighter series before more recently gaining critical acclaim in Super Street Fighter IV.