Razer's 'Project Ava' joins the AI copilot race, but the tech still has a lot to prove

Razer has unveiled its latest AI-powered venture, Project Ava, which aims to become the smartest gaming companion ever created.

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Credit: Razer

Originally announced at CES 2025, ProjectAva provides features that aim to assist the player with every aspect of the experience in-game. In-game walkthroughs allow the user to ask questions and get advice on how to progress through missions while in the game. One-click PC optimization claims to offer expertise with optimizing your game's graphics settings. Real-time esports coaching offers competitive analysis and insights to improve the player's performance in multiplayer experiences.

The focus on competitive play is the key differentiator for Razer's gaming copilot. The video example showcases the assistant pointing out enemy rotations in a game of League of Legends, and real-time instruction on how to counter a boss in Black Myth: Wukong. The focus on multiplayer, e-sports style applications is the backbone of the copilot's pitch. While the demonstrations are impressive, the real question is whether any of it will actually work.

For Project Ava to be useful in serious play, it would need to understand the context and nuances of competitive gameplay - and do it all in real time, with enough speed and accuracy that a player could act on its insights mid-match. That's a huge ask. Competitive interactions often unfold in milliseconds, with players making snap decisions based on instinct, muscle memory, and years of experience. For an AI assistant to keep up, it would need a deep, frame-by-frame understanding of gameplay, along with near-instantaneous processing and response times.

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Credit: Razer

That's where the limitations start to show. Even today's best AI models can struggle with basic tasks like summarizing a web search (just look at Google's AI overviews). Voice assistants still introduce noticeable latency - enough to make real-time advice feel too slow to be useful in high-stakes play. The idea that an AI copilot could reliably slot into that kind of fast, instinct-driven gameplay feels optimistic right now, and maybe more aspirational than practical.

In the scenario where it does work - AI-powered sidekicks pose some interesting questions for both the future of competitive gaming. How might online play look if everyone has a 'guy in the chair', that's aware of, and offering strategic recommendations in every interaction? Microsoft recently unveiled Copilot for Gaming and NVIDIA's G-Assist, which offer similar functionalities - with their own differences.

As to whether Razer, Microsoft, and NVIDIA can actually pull it off - we'll find out as their rollouts continue later in 2025.