A Eulogy for Mad Catz

Everyone seemed to have one. They were the controllers that sat gathering dust in the cabinet while you used the controller that came with the system. You’d forget about them until a friend or younger brother showed up asking to play and then, as if summoned by an ancient and dark sorcery, they would appear: grotesque, bulging in strange places as if holding in an ancient and eldritch power, buttons stuck and joysticks overly sensitive. They came in all colors, all sizes, and for every system. They were the cause of fights, the oft-blamed reason for failure, and the utter confusion of every parent that ever bought one for their child.

They were as unusable as they were inescapable. And now, they are gone forever.

Back in March, Mad Catz filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy, meaning that they don’t intend to come back from it. They realized they were doing so poorly that there was no way they could come back from it. Polygon has a concise article containing a timeline of their decline, for those interested in what is now old news.

“… Mad Catz’s stock prices had plummeted, and the company was at risk of being removed from the New York Stock Exchange.” – Allegra Frank, Polygon.com

I bumped into that article again recently and it got me thinking. Mad Catz, for better or for worse, has been one of the most influential gaming-related brands to ever put a product on the market. Most people know them as the company that made sup-par off-brand controllers for just about every every console to ever hit the market, but there was another side to them as well.

Now, I’m no fighting game aficionado, but in the course of researching this article I stumbled upon a fact that seems to run contrary to every piece of logic and every story I’ve ever heard about Mad Catz: they might have produced the best arcade sticks ever made.

I did a quick search for “Best Arcade Sticks” and I was blown away by my findings. Just about every Top 10 list on the web includes a Mad Catz controller. In fact, most include several of them. Several of their arcade sticks have been listed as “Best of all time” on various sites. I didn’t see any other companies that consistently ranked so high in various polls and discussions.

To be honest with you, dear reader, I was fully planning on ripping on Mad Catz for this piece until I discovered this fact. I wish I had an explanation for how a company could be simultaneously the worst and best controller manufacturer at the same time, but an answer to this riddle escapes me.

Whatever the cause for their inconsistencies may have been, it’s easy to see their downfall. Public opinion was against them for years and, when they backed the losing horse that was Rock Band 4, it turned out to be the final nail in their coffin. The company had lost face years ago, but now it was losing money hand over fist as well. They knew they could never recoup from their losses, and bailed on their sinking ship.

So, while others point and laugh, while they shout in derision or waggle their fingers at the strangely-colored and lumpy corpse being lowered 6 feet under the grass, I know there are some out there that will mourn the loss of this once ubiquitous company. Other companies may come and fill their the empty void left on the market, but they will never fill the empty void in our hearts.

Godspeed, Mad Cats. You raged against the dying of the light, with strange grooved handles that were ribbed for absolutely no one’s pleasure. You were good enough to make the best, but you were humble enough to serve even the lowliest gamer.

Godspeed.