Corsair match a complete Stream Deck into its new gaming keyboard

Elgato’s Stream Deck has come full circle. Nearly eight years after the corporate picked up the items of Artwork Lebedev’s formidable Optimus keyboard and went in a special, cheaper path with the thought, we’re going again to keyboards. Corsair’s Galleon 100 SD, introduced at CES 2026, is a wired mechanical keyboard that successfully has a full Stream Deck Plus constructed into it after which some: 12 customizable buttons, a multi-purpose 5-inch 720 x 1280 IPS display screen, and two rotary dials.

This isn’t the primary time Elgato’s Stream Deck DNA has appeared in a Corsair product. I reviewed the Corsair Voyager gaming laptop computer in 2022, which had uninspiring touch-sensitive buttons that may very well be configured utilizing Elgato’s software program. It was underbaked, however it felt like the beginning of one thing that was lengthy overdue, given Corsair acquired Elgato in 2018. The Galleon looks as if a exceptional enchancment, principally resulting from the truth that it’s the total Stream Deck expertise, not a distillation. It’s launching January twenty ninth, and you’ll preorder one now for $349.99.

To not dismiss the Galleon’s chops as a gaming keyboard (it has an 8,000Hz polling price, hot-swappable PCB that comes with MLX Pulse switches, gasket mounting, and FlashTap simultaneous opposing cardinal path assist, to call a couple of specs), the marquee characteristic right here is most positively its Stream Deck integration. Elgato basic supervisor Julian Fest tells The Verge that it makes use of a much bigger, higher-resolution display screen behind the keys than Stream Decks which are at the moment accessible, and its viewing angles are supposedly higher, too.

As you might need predicted — and maybe feared — the Galleon is technically two totally different gadgets managed by totally different software program. The left aspect is managed by Corsair’s net hub browser software, whereas the fitting aspect requires Elgato’s Stream Deck software program. That received’t at all times be the case for tweaking some settings, Fest tells me. They’re nonetheless engaged on firmware that may let the Stream Deck aspect management the keyboard for issues like LED shade profiles and polling price. It’s additionally working with publishers to construct native Stream Deck integration into extra video games past Star Citizen and different hardcore simulators, though Corsair sees the Galleon as being the very best match for gamers of these genres over others.

The Stream Deck has turn out to be a software that’s ubiquitous amongst streamers, and it’s more and more a preferred software for on a regular basis customers who merely have to mute or flip off their webcams. Its programmable buttons supply an unlimited array of use circumstances due to a vibrant market of plug-ins, from launching recordsdata or macros to easily popping bubble wrap with former Verge author Mitchell Clark’s free Stream Deck plug-in.

Fest is an influence consumer, unsurprisingly, swiftly utilizing the buttons to queue some Christmas music, swapping to totally different webcams by way of OBS, adjusting the brightness of his room’s lighting, then dialing down the amount all whereas barely transferring his fingers. The Stream Deck’s display screen is displaying the climate and Spotify cowl artwork. It’s a supercharged multifunction station that’s additionally a keyboard. And, in fact, the Stream Deck’s buttons can flip right into a numpad, too.

Throughout the demo, it turned clear that this isn’t one thing that the majority firms may obtain; the Galleon is a keyboard with an overflowing degree of customization, the place the software program has already been honed for occurring eight years. It additionally could not have occurred proper now if Corsair didn’t rent Tobias Brinkmann, who based Mountain keyboards.

Certainly one of that firm’s huge swings was the Everest Max, a full-size mechanical keyboard that had a removable numpad full with 4 programmable buttons with screens behind them, its personal spin on Stream Deck performance. We preferred it in our 2022 assessment. Fest tells me that he purchased one, took it aside, and had it checked for patent infringement. “At that time, I had no concept who Tobias was. Now, a couple of years later, he’s heading up our gaming enterprise.”

“I’m personally grateful that it took Corsair so lengthy, and so they couldn’t get it collectively,” Brinkmann jokes. “It helps that Julian and I each have German backgrounds, and we type of like one another. In order that makes it simpler to do it.”

“I’d nonetheless do it in case you have been an asshole,” Fest provides with a smirk.