Upcoming Razer smartphone said to target “hardcore gamers”

After acquiring Nextbit, the company behind the cloud-oriented Robin smartphone, Razer promised that “unique mobile design and experiences” will come soon. Six months after Razer's initial statement, the company revealed plans to go for a $5 billion IPO in Hong Kong with the purpose of expanding in China.

The public offering will help fund development of its own smartphone among other new gadgets, Bloomberg reports. The handset will be specially designed to appeal to “hardcore gamers,” which comes in line with Razer's recent moves in the smartphone industry.

According to sources familiar with the matter, Razer aims to list sometime in October. The company's IPO would be among the biggest tech debuts in the Asian financial market in a long time.

Back in May, Razer and mobile carrier 3 signed a partnership that would allow the former to reach out to the gaming community and youth audience with the help of phone plans and co-branding.

Razer is also developing its own virtual currency called zGold, which is distributing to gamers through its software platform now serving more than 35 million users.

Obviously, Razer's smartphone plans could go completely off the rails if the IPO ends up badly. But let's not assume the worst and hope for the best instead.