Eight more lives: Mad Catz rises from the dead as PC gaming brand

By Gabe Gurwin Published January 4, 2018

Last March, gaming accessory giant Mad Catz filed for bankruptcy following the poor performance of the company’s Rock Band 4, which is published in partnership with developer Harmonix. At the time, the company announced plans to liquidate all of its assets and it appeared the Mad Catz name was no more, but that is no longer true.

“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 press release.

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For now, it appears Mad Catz will exist solely as a PC gaming brand. The company is planning to show off a line of products at CES from January 9 through January 12, including its Rat mice and Strike. keyboards, as well as a variety of headsets and mouse pads.

Mad Catz’ current lineup of products is a far cry from what the company became famous for: cheap controllers. Its low-quality, inexpensive wired controllers were available for consoles like the original Xbox and GameCube, and their build quality made them the bane of unlucky players.

But in later years, a switch was flipped. We reviewed the Rat Pro X mouse in 2016, and found its customizable design and performance to be fantastic, though its higher price didn’t make it an ideal choice for casual players. Mad Catz also produced a line of fight sticks for games like Street Fighter V and Killer Instinct, which received positive reviews.

“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,” said director of sales and operations Selena Chang in the release. “We can’t wait to unveil a little more at CES 2018 and in the months to come.”

With eight more lives to go, Mad Catz has a little wiggle room when it comes to innovation. We hope to see the brand return to the console space, as well, perhaps with higher-quality products that mimic its PC lineup.

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Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…

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