Acer’s Dual Play Concept: Transformative Gaming for Seamless Multi-Play Experience

Kendrick Lamar once said, “sometimes you gotta pop out…” and Acer just did that. At their IFA presentation, the company unveiled their Acer Project Dual Play concept – a 2-in-1 machine that’s all about answering the age-old question: controller or keyboard? And the answer, it seems, is “why not both?”

At first glance, the notebook looks like any other Predator gaming laptop – big on RGB lights and a Transformer aesthetic. But two button presses later, and the crowd erupted into oohs and ahhs. The touchpad and part of the palm rest popped out of the keyboard deck, revealing a game controller. It’s an elegant, you-got-your-chocolate-in-my-peanut-butter solution.

But that’s not all – the controller can be broken down into two separate joysticks, à la the Nintendo Switch. And when the controller is removed from the laptop, the side-mounted speakers pop out. I’m not sure how much the new positioning will affect the audio, as the unit I saw was only a prototype.

The controller felt solid, but not too bulky. The sides detach with a firm, quick pull, held in place by strong magnets. The buttons felt okay, but could be a bit firmer. This is currently a prototype, and probably not the final product – we don’t even know if this concept will see the light of day as a fully-realized consumer product.

Personally, I’d love to get my hands on this – I could switch between keyboard and controller at the click of a couple of buttons. No more hunting around for the controller when it’s time to play Black Myth: Wukong or Street Fighter 6.

But there are still so many questions to be answered about Project Dual Play. Will it need a separate app? How long can the controller last on a charge? Can you still interact with the keyboard when the touchpad’s in controller mode?

Whether or not those questions get answers depends on Acer’s appetite to bring the Dual Play from concept to reality.