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Asus ROG still trying to make mad Saga happen

Asus hasn’t given up on its ambitious but definitely odd attempt to create a cyberpunk universe, known as ROG Saga, to help advertise its products somehow.

Woman with mid-length punk haircut stands with hands raised and a robot shines a light on her.

Amid the sea of groundbreaking tech, exciting new products, and swirling rumors that is Computex, Asus has taken a decidedly leftfield route. Well, it’s been going that direction for several years, actually, and shows no sign of slowing down. I’m talking, of course, about the ROG Saga, Asus’ answer to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

For the uninitiated, the ROG Saga world is a rabbit hole of hackneyed corporate slogans sprinkled over a surprisingly well-realized cyberpunk setting with high octane videos. Asus debuted its peculiar cinematic vision several years ago to a mixed reception, but hasn’t let that get in the way of plowing ahead with video after video of zany sci fi action. The latest entry into the ROG Saga canon is RE:SET, which Asus debuted at Computex.

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I mean, you can’t really knock the production values. Asus has certainly provided a feast for the eyes, with a series of colorful set pieces gracing the screen in RE:SET’s 6:40 runtime. The video short sees Saga’s characters navigate a vibrant metropolis, with hacker AchT and robot OMNI hatching a daring escape from their captivity at the hands of some run-of-the-mill cybergoons. But, with under 50,000 views at time of writing, it makes you wonder how much closer these videos bring Asus’ customer base to understanding the Republic of Gamers’ product offer. We watched this video five times and saw what might be the Asus ROG 5S Pro  but no monitors, laptops, or graphics cards. Maybe they’re trailing their launch of killer drones.

Luckily, Asus hasn’t bet the house on their alternate cyberpunk universe, and remains rooted in this one, with a rather more prosaic but hopefully more substantial commitment to “create a net-zero enterprise for a circular and responsible future”. And how’s it gonna do that exactly? Good question! Computex saw Asus announce a new carbon offset partner program, which allows customers to “reduce your carbon footprint by providing transparent, high-quality, and flexible carbon offset services” when you buy an ExpertBook B9 OLED or ExpertCenter D9 Series desktop.

Of course, it’s fair to be skeptical of achieving net zero through carbon offsetting, with environmental groups like Greenpeace arguing it doesn’t really work. Oh dear. Well, we can only hope Asus goes further to back its sustainability pledge with initiatives that actually, y’know, help the planet. An area where Asus is making good on its promises is in the handheld market, and their new device “challenges Valve on both prices and specs”, according to our Asus ROG Ally review.