Mad Catz sells its Saitek line to Logitech for $13 million

[Shawn Knight]

Mad Catz announced on Thursday evening that it has sold its Saitek brand and line of flight, space and farm simulation controllers to Logitech for $13 million in cash. I didn’t even know farm simulation controllers were a thing but I digress.

As per the agreement, Mad Catz will hand over trademarks, equipment and tooling, inventory, technical data, records and any other documents necessary for the design, manufacture, marketing and distribution of the aforementioned controllers.

What’s more, Logitech will be welcoming eight of the company’s research and development employees.

Karen McGinnis, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mad Catz, said in a statement that after a thorough and deliberate process, they believe this sale to Logitech brings Mad Catz attractive and certain value for the flight, space and farm simulation line of Saitek products. She added that they are pleased to find a company like Logitech that will lead Saitek into its next phase of growth and best support its strong acceptance within the flight simulation community.

Saitek got its start in the late ‘70s as a maker of electronic chess games. The company eventually expanded to include PC peripherals and made quite the name for itself – so much so that Mad Catz came knocking in 2007 with a check for $30 million.

Selling Saitek to Logitech for just $13 million may seem like a steep loss (and who knows, maybe it is) but there’s more to the story. Logitech is getting everything mentioned above but will retain the mouse and keyboard product lines that have developed out of the Saitek brand.

Image courtesy Kevin Bentley, YouTube

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/66353-mad-catz-sells-saitek-line-logitech-13-million.html

 

[Uncle Al]

Loss??? It's all about the FUTURE, not the past and if they have a business plan that's worth a hoot they will be in the black in less than 18 months.

 

[stewi0001]

Saitek has the best flight joy sticks and throttles for PC. My only hope is that Logitech doesn't kill it.

 

[madboyv1]

Logitech has been stagnant in the controller segment, when was the last they they refreshed a game controller not related to auto racing? 5 years+ for the Extreme 3D, over 6 years for the F310/F710... so hopefully this'll be a good thing.

 

[IAMTHESTIG]

Logitech has been stagnant in the controller segment, when was the last they they refreshed a game controller not related to auto racing? 5 years+ for the Extreme 3D, over 6 years for the F310/F710... so hopefully this'll be a good thing.

Why refresh a controller when the offering is fine. I have a G29 I've had for well over five years now and have beat the snot out of it and it still works great. Sure it isn't a perfect product there are things I would change but it still works. I agree though their controller market is at a stand still, there needs to be some innovation in this area. I just hope they make stuff we want to buy rather than just start making cheap crap that doesn't last and we have to replace. I'd rather buy something because I want to than because I have to.

 

[madboyv1]

Why refresh a controller when the offering is fine. I have a G29 I've had for well over five years now and have beat the snot out of it and it still works great. Sure it isn't a perfect product there are things I would change but it still works. I agree though their controller market is at a stand still, there needs to be some innovation in this area. I just hope they make stuff we want to buy rather than just start making cheap crap that doesn't last and we have to replace. I'd rather buy something because I want to than because I have to.

I did mentioned "not related to auto racing" as Logitech have been consistently refreshing their control wheel/shift box/pedals (which are, compared to the products I directly mentioned, very nice.)

 

[TechMech]

I just hope they bring back the force feedback feature. So I can use it with my VR headset. I need the extra realism to play those flight sims.

 

[IAMTHESTIG]

I did mentioned "not related to auto racing" as Logitech have been consistently refreshing their control wheel/shift box/pedals (which are, compared to the products I directly mentioned, very nice.)

Ahh... apparently I need to go back to school.

 

[Wendig0]

I hope Logitech does a better job of quality control than Mad Catz did.

 

[Captain828]

FINALLY... best news I've heard all week.

Perhaps we will actually start seeing good HOTAS now.

 

[Wendig0]

FINALLY... best news I've heard all week.

Perhaps we will actually start seeing good HOTAS now.

Agreed. Mad Catz was killing the Saitek brand.

 

[DAOWAce]

Saitek has been garbage quality for an absurd amount of money lately (x52+ owners like myself feel this hard).

I'm actually happy to hear this news. While Logitech may not be the best quality, they're still a damn sight better than MadCatz, and cheaper too, plus they have a large amount of money. Hopefully this turns out well.

Now, we just need them to re-engineer the older products and throw out a refresh for the entire currently produced line so they stop falling apart in weeks.. and maybe have the pro version(s) actually use metal instead of the same cheap plastic.