Mad Catz
From Sega Retro
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| Mad Catz | ||
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| Founded: 1989 | ||
| Defunct: 2017-03-30 | ||
| Merged into: GTR Group (1999) | ||
Headquarters:
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Mad Catz Interactive, Inc. is a manufacturer of console peripherals, based in San Diego, California, United States. It was originally formed in 1989 in Utah.
For many years Mad Catz merely repackaged (OEM) products bought from elsewhere under the "High Frequency" label, selling exclusively to North American branches of Toys R Us. European distribution was likely handled by Gamester around this time. Business didn't really begin to take off until it was bought by the GTR Group in 1999, after which the operations greatly expanded, causing Mad Catz to be one of the world's leading third-party peripheral manufacturers.
Mad Catz acquired peripheral manufacturers Joytech and Saitek in 2007 (September and November, respectively), and as well as Tritton Technologies in June 2010.
The company has produced various peripherals for Sega consoles, including the Sega Dreamcast, where it acquired the rights to produce the "official" Dreamcast light gun (the Dream Blaster) in North America (as Sega were concerned about releasing the Dreamcast Gun after the Columbine High School massacre). They have also produced controllers, memory units and rumble packs.
In March 2017, the New York Stock Exchange informed that it was delisting the company from the Exchange due to it's terribly low stock, to which Mad Catz did not contest. On March 30, 2017 Mad Catz filed for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy to trigger a liquidation of their assets.
Accessories produced
Mega Drive
- Mad Catz 3 Button Controller (1993)
- Mad Catz 6 Button Controller (1993)
Saturn
- Mad Catz Control Pad for Saturn (1995)
- Fazor (1996)
- Mad Catz Advanced Control Pad for Saturn (199x)
- Mad Catz Analog Steering Wheel for Saturn (199x)
Dreamcast
- Dream Blaster (1999)
- Dream Pad (1999)
- MC2 Racing Wheel (1999)
- Rumble Rod (2000)
- Panther DC (2000)
Xbox
- Blaster (2002)