It’s not an April Fool’s joke anymore: Zotac goes ahead with its ‘gamer fragrance’ perfume, for a limited few, for a limited time

Every year, gaming manufacturers churn out all kinds of ludicrous products for April Fools’ Day. Hardly headline news, of course, but one by Zotac is an exception to this because, for some bizarre reason, the graphics card and mini-PC maker has decided to go ahead and release its F5 esports perfume. Yes, that’s right: it’s a scent for gamers.

I suppose we should all be grateful that it’s not an actual gamers’ scent, as that would be a joke taken way too far, but what you have here is a small bottle of smelly liquid. Admittedly, it does sound like it is a nice smelly liquid, as Zotac describes it as a “clean woody aquatic fragrance” with a “foreword of bergamot, a middle note of rock rose and geranium, and a tail note of rosemary.”

Zotac’s original April Fools’ joke was actually quite tasteful, and I’ll admit, I do like anything bergamot-y. However, at no point did I ever think that Zotac would carry on with the fun and go ahead and announce the F5 fragrance as being free for a limited time (HKEPC Facebook via Videocardz).

Of course, it’s just a promotional novelty, and the blurb for it makes this very obvious: “Zotac Gaming has launched the ‘F5 Esports Perfume’, which can keep players’ body odor fresh during intense games, fight mental fatigue, improve concentration and speed up reaction time, align your senses with the hardware, and gain the ultimate gaming advantage.”

Well, that’s what Google Translate says, but I should imagine that it’s pretty close to what Zotac has written. Mind you, there is a bit that’s a little confusing: “Applicants can complete the first-floor tasks before June 13.” The rest of the translation actually says that you have to like HKEPC and Zotac’s Facebook pages, share the post, and then leave a message on the past while tagging two friends.

Anyway, it’s a rare thing to see an April Fools’ tech post become reality, and I really don’t mind this one. The whole thing is very tongue-in-cheek, and to my mind, it’s a million times better than the cringing Razer Skibidi.

It’s actually got me thinking why we don’t see more gamer scent stuff on the market in general. We have endless amounts of gaming-related products, including drinks, snacks, and clothing, but we don’t often see things like shower gels or deodorants, let alone perfume. It’s not like any of them actually make you game any better, so nobody would ever feel like they’re being conned.

Sadly, none of us here at the PC Gamer hardware office use Facebook, so we’ll never be able to try our luck and win a sample to test it for you. Not sure how we’d actually test it, though. Just spray on a layer, walk around the office, and judge the reaction? Spray on multiple layers until our colleagues start retching? Spray so much that the sprinklers go off and we have to abandon the PC Gamer tower?

Hmm, maybe it’s best there aren’t any gamer perfumes on the market, after all.