Mad Catz brand returns from the dead

Peripherals maker Mad Catz is back, in name at least, following its bankruptcy earlier this year, announcing a new range of gaming peripherals for PCs.

Mad Catz hit financial trouble following a range of missteps including withdrawing from a contract to make Guitar Hero peripherals in 2010 and consumer disinterest in its Project Mojo microconsole. By 2015 the company was defending rumours it was approaching bankruptcy, but things soon came to a head: In 2016 its executive team resigned ahead of a below-expectations earnings report, and in September Mad Catz was forced to sell its Saitek division to Logitech to keep the lights on. In March last year the company was involuntarily delisted from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). A filing for voluntary bankruptcy followed later that month, and that appeared to be the end of the Mad Catz story.

A post-bankruptcy acquisition of the brand and its assets, though, means that Mad Catz lives on under new ownership. The revived company has confirmed it will be launching new products during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2018 this month, including 'new Rat mice, Strike keyboards, Freq gaming headsets, and Glide gaming surfaces' (though stylised in traditional Mad Catz fashion as R.A.T., S.T.R.I.K.E, F.R.E.Q., and G.L.I.D.E.) While details are not yet fully available, the company has confirmed three products: The Rat Air, a variant of the Rat gaming mouse with wireless power through a bundled 'wireless activation gaming surface'; Strike 4 mechanical gaming keyboard; and Freq 4 40mm driver gaming headset.

'We couldn't be more excited than to begin 2018 by announcing the return of Mad Catz to the global gaming arena. Mad Catz has been a permanent fixture in gaming for almost three decades and we firmly believe its best days lie ahead,' claims Selena Chang, Mad Catz' incoming director of sales and operations. '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. We can't wait to unveil a little more at CES 2018 and in the months to come.'