Honestly, I don’t know where to start with this pair of sneakers that PC maker NZXT and fashion outfit Artifact Studios announced last night. At first, I thought it was just a fancy sneaker with an RTX 3080 on the heel – a feat that, during a global video card shortage, would have made my soul cry big salty tears of bitter discontent. Looking more closely, however, it seems that they built an entire PC inside this huge shoe, with an NZXT cooler, motherboard and fans, all visible through the transparent purple side panel. It’s an impressive feat, to be sure, but I also have a lot of questions. How it works? How many meters per second can you travel on these things? And will the fans help keep my toes nice and cool or will they tear my soles into absolute pieces?
I joke, of course, but it raises the question of whether this is the logical end point of the weird love affair in the shoe gaming industry now. After all, after putting a whole PC inside your tennis shoe, where else can you go? Ties that bend like control cables?
So far, NZXT x RTFKT sneakers don’t seem to have a proper name yet, but here’s how they look in person.
MASTER RACE TENNIS, @NZXT DRIP 💧 pic.twitter.com/OuNrEA6j4R
– Artifact Studios (@RTFKTstudios) January 20, 2021
It is also unclear whether or when they will be available for purchase, as the Artifact website only points to a subscribe button on your email list at the moment. In fact, the only thing Artifact Studios has said about shoes so far is contained in a single tweet: “We are super excited to announce a partnership with NZXT, empowering RTFKT and our community of creators to create the future of fashion and collectibles, empowering our vision, community and crazy ideas with their incredible builds and love of games.”
Does this mean that people will be able to create their own customizable versions of these PC sneakers at some point in the line? Or is it a one-size-fits-all deal? Who can say.
These NZXT sneakers are not the first sneakers for games that Artifact made. Take a quick look at your Instagram page, for example, and your crazy collection of game shoes goes back to April 2019. There are Minecraft-inspired Air Jordans, dazzling pink Fall Guys sneakers and cute little PlayStation 5 sneakers buttons on the tongue, to name just a few.
Would you buy a pair of PC sneakers if you had the chance?