Mad Catz shuts down due to financial woes

primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' BoopinDetroit, MI Icrontian

Turns out betting big on Rock Band peripherals was not a winning solution, as crazy-ass peripheral maker Mad Catz has been shut down, according to Polygon.

Mad Catz was always a goofy company that made some pretty bold and wild moves in an already goofy industry. There has always been an "anything goes" approach to industrial design in the gaming hardware space, and Mad Catz took it to an absurd extreme sometimes.

Some of our past Mad Catz content:

Rest in (many pieces), Mad Catz. You'll forever be remembered as the company that made the controller you made your friends or grubby kid brother with sticky hands use instead of your own controller.

Comments

  • lmorchardlmorchard {web,mad,computer} scientist Portland, OR Icrontian
    edited March 2017

    Aww man. This is still my favorite thing they ever made:

    (holy crap, that ended up being a way bigger image than i expected)

    RyanMMGarg
  • lmorchardlmorchard {web,mad,computer} scientist Portland, OR Icrontian

    (and of course I see this is the "absurd extreme" you linked to, but I think this ad is pretty rad)

  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian

    A lethal combination of Premium Joystick and Optimized Controlball

  • NiGHTSNiGHTS San Diego Icrontian

    That's a bummer to see a SD business go.

  • First, hate to see news that means anyone is loosing work.

    That said, Mad Catz could never escape the image of being a manufacturer of low quality components that grandma got for the kids because she wanted to save five bucks and "it's just as good right?" Also, they had a stupid name that sounds like it came right out of a 1989 brainstorming session. Probably some Beverly Hills rich kids who started a company with their parents money sniffed some coke while listening to a Tone Loc record, walked out and were like, Yo, we are MAD CATZ! That name literally wears a mullet, the logo even, everything about the branding was stuck in the past.

    So.... they made two or three things in the company history that did not suck. The high end joysticks are nice, I had one but sold it because I'm just a way better pad fighter. I actually have the cheaper Tatsunoku vs. Capcom Wii stick still sitting in a box, maybe a collectors item now?? Not sure, I've been thinking about trying to mod the electronics for a USB PC stick. I also have a six button Ryu SF pad, the build is garbage, but it works. I had PS2 controllers, memory cards, I believe I had a N64 controller, all crap destined to fail inside of a few months. I tried one of those crazy Rat mice once just because a local Best Buy was basically giving them away on clearance, took it home and laughed at how stupid and backwards the design was, I gave it to a kid that told me it quit on him after a few months.

    Mad Catz sucked. That's why they are no more.

    Garg
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian

    lol @ "That name literally wears a mullet"

    CBCliff_Forster
  • LincLinc Owner Detroit Icrontian

    @Cliff_Forster said:
    Mad Catz sucked. That's why they are no more.

    That's the kind of epitaph you write for a company that folds in year 3, not year 28.

    aspieRommelprimesuspect
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited April 2017

    I dunno, Mad Catz did kind of suck. Homes across America are littered with Mad Catz peripheral that died or stopped working correctly far too soon. For as long as I've been alive, "give your little brother the Mad Catz controller" has been a meme because they were uncomfortable and shoddy. It seems like they only survived because they had a good retail strategy to get assorted as a cheaper alternative to OEM controllers, and unwitting parents bought them. Mad Catz devices always lived just long enough for the warranty to expire, so the retailers never took a black mark for it.

  • LincLinc Owner Detroit Icrontian
    edited April 2017

    @Thrax said:
    I dunno, Mad Catz did kind of suck.

    Was not saying they didn't, only that they clearly made it work for them, and it doesn't appear to be what did them in. It was a lousy management bet on RB4 (or so they say, anyway).

  • LincLinc Owner Detroit Icrontian

    If sucking meant failure, half of Vanilla's competitors would be out of business.

    lmorchardCB
  • ardichokeardichoke Icrontian

    @Linc said:
    If sucking meant failure, half of Vanilla's competitors would be out of business.

    Not that you're biased or anything ;)

    Linc
  • LincLinc Owner Detroit Icrontian

    @ardichoke said:
    Not that you're biased or anything ;)

    I thought I was being charitable only saying 'half'. :ninja:

  • lmorchardlmorchard {web,mad,computer} scientist Portland, OR Icrontian

    @primesuspect said:
    A lethal combination of Premium Joystick and Optimized Controlball

    Lethal insofar as I dropped it on my foot once while moving and my toe turned black & blue for a month

  • @Linc said:

    @Cliff_Forster said:
    Mad Catz sucked. That's why they are no more.

    That's the kind of epitaph you write for a company that folds in year 3, not year 28.

    Plenty of business ventures survive off the misinformed or just plain stupid. Airborne avoid a cold garbage, certified organic this or that, generic root beer, Scientology.... Grandma wants to save five bucks on the controller for little brother could sustain them for nearly three decades I suppose. The brand still sucked.

    drasnor
  • aspieRommelaspieRommel Icrontic politico Indianapolis, IN Icrontian
    edited January 2018
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited January 2018
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian

    Does "with a vengeance" mean "breaks while in warranty period, instead of 3 days after?"

    pigflipperDontCallMeKelsoCliff_ForsterSoda
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