Mad Catz comes back from the dead.

[Jtbrig7390]

http://www.pcgamer.com/mad-catz-come...ffer-pcgamertw

A strange teaser released in December hinted rather strongly that peripheral maker Mad Catz was coming back from the bankruptcy it filed for in early 2017. Today that resurrection was confirmed with a new video announcing that it is indeed back in business under new ownership, and with new things to show off this weekend.

"Less than a year after the much-loved brand disappeared from the gaming landscape, Mad Catz is back: under new management, with new ideas, new attitude and most importantly, an entire range of new, high-quality gaming products," the company said in a statement.

"The new Mad Catz will focus first on quality, committed to producing innovative gaming products, designed and engineered in-house to stand out amongst the competition and deliver superlative performance for gamers of all abilities."

The first of the new Mad Catz products will be previewed at CES, which begins on Sunday. Included among them will be the RAT Air (technically it's R.A.T. AIR, but we won't be doing that), an updated version of this torturous-looking monstrosity that features wireless operation powered through a "wireless activation gaming surface" as well as a USB option for those who'd rather just run it on their desktop.

Also new are the Strike 4 mechanical keyboard with aluminum frame and RGB lighting, and the Freq 4 gaming headset, built around 40mm neodymium drivers, swappable earpads, and oxygen free copper cable, which true audiophiles love because it gives them something to argue about.

"Mad Catz has been a permanent fixture in gaming for almost three decades and we firmly believe it’s best days lie ahead," Mad Catz Director of Sales and Operations Selena Change said. "Through listening to gamers worldwide, we plan to once again forge a path of innovation in the gaming hardware community, and we’re already working on delivering products which we believe will enhance gamers’ abilities and do justice to the Mad Catz name."

Ahead of the start of CES, you can get a look at the new Mad Catz stuff at madcatz.com.

Ummmmm........Ok.

[Video Games]

Yes.
101010

[dope_danny]

A sign of the end times.

[PACOX]

Mad Catz failed due to poor management. It should've been easy for it to secure a spot in the industry as an affordable 3rd party peripheral vendor but it fell off due to bad decisions need its bankruptcy.

[Tech614]

Mad Catz failed due to poor management. It should've been easy for it to secure a spot in the industry as an affordable 3rd party peripheral vendor but it fell off due to bad decisions need its bankruptcy.

"affordable" lol, most of their revenue came from guitars and fight sticks neither of which where affordable or even the cheaper of options on the market. Nobody bought their shitty controllers.

Unveiling the new company at CES also screams they want to be even more high end the they where, not affordable. Tough market to break into especially when Razer has even taken over as the fighting stick manufacturer most use.

Mad Catz failed because they fully funded Rock Band 4 and it was a massive failure btw. They weren't big enough to eat a massive game bomb like that. They where doing fine before then.

[MonsieuRoberts]

"Much loved brand"

HA.

[PACOX]

"affordable" lol, most of their revenue came from guitars and fight sticks neither of which where affordable or even the cheaper of options on the market. Nobody bought their shitty controllers.

Had me a couple N64 and PSX Mad Catz controllers and memory cards as a kid.

[MonsieuRoberts]

Mad Catz failed due to poor management. It should've been easy for it to secure a spot in the industry as an affordable 3rd party peripheral vendor but it fell off due to bad decisions need its bankruptcy.

"Hey, let's become a game developer/publisher! Let's bank on mobile peripherals! We're pushing HARD to revive music party gaming, it'll TOTALLY take off again! Let's buy Saitek and run them into the ground!"

What about our secure position in the FGC thanks to our actually great fightsticks and our budget controllers? Will we continue to support the two avenues that formed our foundation as a company?

"Get this guy the fuck out. Oh, now we're bankrupt? How did it happen!"

2 digit IQ management detected. It will be interesting to see them take PC peripherals as a whole as seriously as they took the original few R.A.Ts. Hopefully they won't market their hardware toward kids who grew up on Fisher Price sci-fi toys.







Their design language turns me off bigtime.

[Video Games]

I won't lie, I did actually like this one
https://www.amazon.com/Madcatz-Gamec.../dp/B00005TNVS

[Chinese Bootlickers]

Obligatory every time MadCatz is mentioned.

[StrawberryZebra]

What about our secure position in the FGC thanks to our actually great fightsticks and our budget controllers? Will we continue to support the two avenues that formed our foundation as a company?

I got myself a MadCatz Fightstick because I was sick of wearing out controllers in a few months. For what I paid for it, it was actually a very good stick overall. Most importantly it's still in working order after about 7 years of use, where as I would have probably worn out 15+ Xbox or PS controllers in the same time frame, so it was definately worth the investment.

Glad to see the brand back on the market though, but even with their new direction I hope they're still going to be making Fightsticks still - There's definately a niche market for them and they were one of the better brands out there.

[Dug]

Shweet now lets make couch co-op a thing again so I can give my friends the crappy mad catz controller

[Beazy]

I quit buying MadKatz when the N64 came out and the madkatz controller analog sticks would get loose and either break or be horribly off. I would never spend another dime on a madkatz product. The only memory card makers in the industry to have failing memory cards. My original Sony memory cards for the PSX still work for fucks sake.

[MonsieuRoberts]

I got myself a MadCatz Fightstick because I was sick of wearing out controllers in a few months. For what I paid for it, it was actually a very good stick overall. Most importantly it's still in working order after about 7 years of use, where as I would have probably worn out 15+ Xbox or PS controllers in the same time frame, so it was definately worth the investment.

Glad to see the brand back on the market though, but even with their new direction I hope they're still going to be making Fightsticks still - There's definately a niche market for them and they were one of the better brands out there.

I've heard the exact same sentiment from friends who bounce between Mad Catz and Hori. You'd think the "off-brand" would make a garbage, budget fightstick, but no! They're about as good as anything else if you're not looking to spend several hundred bucks or build your own.

It sounded to me like management was hungry to be the "first" in a new market, so they reached out to a bunch of different sectors and totally alienated their base; Cheap peripherals and super good bang-for-the-buck fightsticks.

If they can turn that around, and tiptoe into new markets, I think they'll be okay. They need to be the "$20 controller at the store" option again, where PDP has them totally beat in basically every Bestbuy/Gamestop/EB Games. Dunno about Walmart, and Amazon, well...China's always got something cheaper if you're sorting by lowest price.

[EyelessCrow]

Is that a decepticon?

[joat1832]

Shweet now lets make couch co-op a thing again so I can give my friends the crappy mad catz controller

This. You always knew the ranking of friendships when you went to someone's house to play video games because true friends got the official controller(s) and the kid tagging along from down the street who no one really liked all that much got the MadCatz.

And you only had that MadCatz because your Auntie heard you liked the video games and went to the game shop and said "I need a remote for the video game box for my nephew" and the kid working minimum wage at the EB Games or Best Buy was like "here, give him this, he'll love it" while laughing to himself.

[Usagi Senshi]

I've heard the exact same sentiment from friends who bounce between Mad Catz and Hori. You'd think the "off-brand" would make a garbage, budget fightstick, but no! They're about as good as anything else if you're not looking to spend several hundred bucks or build your own.

It sounded to me like management was hungry to be the "first" in a new market, so they reached out to a bunch of different sectors and totally alienated their base; Cheap peripherals and super good bang-for-the-buck fightsticks.

If they can turn that around, and tiptoe into new markets, I think they'll be okay. They need to be the "$20 controller at the store" option again, where PDP has them totally beat in basically every Bestbuy/Gamestop/EB Games. Dunno about Walmart, and Amazon, well...China's always got something cheaper if you're sorting by lowest price.

Yeah, been using their Soul Calibur V stick for a few years now with no issues. Just bought a Qanba Qraf4 off eBay and some new parts and art for a custom build.

[Dug]

This. You always knew the ranking of friendships when you went to someone's house to play video games because true friends got the official controller(s) and the kid tagging along from down the street who no one really liked all that much got the MadCatz.

And you only had that MadCatz because your Auntie heard you liked the video games and went to the game shop and said "I need a remote for the video game box for my nephew" and the kid working minimum wage at the EB Games or Best Buy was like "here, give him this, he'll love it" while laughing to himself.

spot on lul

[TheReallyBigtuna]

Everything they made except for the street fighter fight sticks seemed janky.

[Nnyco]

their shit always looked so weird