Elgato Shifting to Focus 'Exclusively' on Line of Eve HomeKit Devices

Elgato Systems today announced that it will shift its focus "exclusively" to its line of HomeKit-connected Eve devices, in the process rebranding itself to "Eve Systems." At the same time, it confirmed plans to sell its streaming accessory division Elgato Gaming to peripheral company Corsair to continue life as a separate brand.

Under its new name, the company said that Eve Systems will offer a "constantly expanding ecosystem" of accessories that are designed exclusively for HomeKit. It also told users to look out for the next line of product announcements coming to IFA Berlin in a few months, running from August 31 through September 5.

In the announcement, Elgato founder and CEO of Eve Systems Markus Fest explained that the Eve product line will benefit from a "focused team and a dedicated organization" thanks to the gaming division's sale.

“Today, the Gaming space is more dynamic and exciting than ever, and we sought a larger partner to help us capitalize on the phenomenal opportunities ahead” said Markus Fest, Elgato’s founder and now CEO of Eve Systems.

“Our gaming business has been wildly successful, and that success is inextricably linked to the Elgato brand. The brand has been with us for almost twenty years and we are obviously a little sad to see it go, but Corsair is a fantastic company and will be a great new home for Elgato. At the same time our Eve product line will benefit from a focused team and a dedicated organization. This move will further strengthen both product families.”

For products that don't fall under the Eve or Gaming categories — like Elgato's thunderbolt docks — the company confirmed that anything that is not an Eve device will also be joining Elgato Gaming under Corsair.

The most recent HomeKit product announcements from the company came with the Eve Aqua and Eve Flare. Eve Aqua connects to your outdoor water system so you can control your sprinklers or other irrigation system through the Home app or Siri. For European users, the Eve Flare lamp is a portable LED lamp that offers six hours of illumination on one charge.

Otheriwse, the company sells numerous Eve devices on Apple.com, including the Elgato Eve Degree Connected Weather Station, Light Switch, Wireless Motion Sensor, Room Sensor, Energy Smart Plug, Button, and more.

Tag: Elgato

Top Rated Comments

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adamjackson

16 weeks ago

This is the same company that got famous from their "EyeTV" product, a cable tuner box that you could use to watch live TV via FireWire on your Mac. Any company participating in the Apple landscape with premium products needs to evolve and HomeKit focus makes more sense.

Rating: 6 Votes

longofest

16 weeks ago

I still have my original EyeTV, which actually used USB 1 and MPEG1. Everyone was like "why not firewire/Mpeg4" at the time, but it worked alright.

Rating: 3 Votes

Fall Under Cerulean Kites

16 weeks ago

I want to know what happened to the Eve Extend. The current state of Bluetooth LE devices limits usability for those with large homes. Short of forking out hundreds of dollars for additional Apple TVs and running them headless in closets, I have no way to communicate with my Schlage locks via HomeKit.

Rating: 2 Votes

Janichsan

16 weeks ago

"Our gaming business has been wildly successful, and that success is inextricably linked to the Elgato brand."

"…so we totally thought it makes sense to sell off this successful division."

Business logic.

This is the same company that got famous from their "EyeTV" product, …

…which was another successful product line until they decided to sell it off to Geniatech, who ran the brand into the ground.

Rating: 2 Votes

walstib

16 weeks ago

I have several Eve HomeKit devices and they all have one thing in common — none of them work very well.

They have ongoing connectivity issues.

Unless they improve performance, I won’t be buying any more.

Rating: 2 Votes

macduke

16 weeks ago

It's good that they are because it seems like many companies don't care. Hopefully Corsair takes care of these other products like Weber did with the iGrill. I've actually been eyeing their higher-end game capture cards that do real-time broadcast as a means to connect my Xbox to an iMac as a display if I end up upgrading to that instead of the Mac Pro in the next year. I have an older model that I used for a while when I used to produce gaming content and it was a good product.

I hope that at some point they expand their weather product to a fully fledged station. It would be neat to be able to ask Siri about current conditions outside my house, and tie-in HomeKit actions. For instance, if the rain collector hasn't detected enough rain then it will calculate how long it should run the sprinkler system to compensate. It can also factor in how much water to use based on temperature, humidity, and even evaporation rates caused by higher wind speeds. I imagine there are other things you could hook into data like this that I haven't thought of yet, but mostly I want it because I'm a weather geek. Netatmo makes a personal weather station with accessories that would suit my needs if they added HomeKit, though I wonder if Siri Shortcuts in iOS 12 would be able to do what I need if they can add support for it.

I'd also like to see them make an alarm system to hook into all of their sensors. Ring's new alarm system is coming out on July 4th but as far as I can tell it doesn't support HomeKit. They've been promising support for my doorbell and floodlight for ages so who knows. They're also owned by Amazon now which makes me hesitant, but I don't think these interior products have microphones or cameras so I think I'm good? I might hold off on early bugs, check out reviews, and get it during a holiday sale. The $10/mo service for 24/7 home monitoring with LTE backup plus DVR for all of my cameras is really tempting. I already pay $6/mo for both cameras now so it's a great deal. But I trust Elgato more.

Rating: 1 Votes

ipedro

16 weeks ago

I bought my first ElGato product over a decade ago along with the first generation AppleTV when I cut the cord: the EyeTV. It was a tv tuner made to look like an AppleTV that you plugged into your Mac to watch and record live tv and send the tv shows to your AppleTV. It really allowed me to go all in without cable.

When TV shows appeared on iTunes for AppleTV, it became more convenient to just buy seasons of my favourite shows and download my favourite video podcasts and I stopped using the EyeTV.

I never thought that I’d be buying dozens of more ElGato products as I outfit my home for HomeKit. They’ve found a niche that they’re really good at. I’m on board and will continue buying ElGato products for my smart home.

Rating: 1 Votes

silvetti

16 weeks ago

With Xiaomi Aqara entering this market by year end, Elgato needs to step up their game because their (almost all HomeKit ones) prices are way high...

I have a few Elgato products and they are really well built and features are nice. But when xiaomi will come with HomeKit outlets at half price it will be interesting.

I love competition!

Rating: 1 Votes

harriska2

16 weeks ago

…which was another successful product line until they decided to sell it off to Geniatech, who ran the brand in the ground.

Rip eyeTV. Geniatech is horrible and totally broke the software. I wish I could find the old version before Geniatech.

Rating: 1 Votes

kurticus

16 weeks ago

This is essentially what I've had to do. I have 2 ATV 4Ks, in use with TVs (1 in basement, 1 on main floor) and a 3rd headless ATV 4th gen (non-4K) in a closet in a basement bedroom near the back of the house so my Schlage locks on the front and back of the house have sufficient BT LE proximity. I also have an August lock on my garage door - it has both WiFi and BT but is too far away for BT, so I put an old 4th gen. Airport Base Station in the garage in wireless extend mode.

Yes, it's some extra dollars - but everything works amazingly smooth.

Rating: 1 Votes

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