After years of financial difficulties, Mad Catz Interactive has now officially filed for bankruptcy. While the move isn't entirely surprising for those who have followed the tech giant's embattled efforts to remain afloat, many gamers will still have sentimental attachments to its subsidiary company Mad Catz Inc, which made a variety of controllers and hardware peripherals.
The subsidiary peripheral producer has now ceased operations and filed for chapter 7 of the bankruptcy code, which means all of the company's existing assets will be liquidated. Fellow Mad Catz subsidiary Tritton wasn't mention in the press release, but will likely follow suit.
Since 2016, Mad Catz Interactive's board of directors has been attempting to find a solution to the company's fiscal woes, and even hired a financial analyst to help formulate strategies that could save the proverbial sinking ship. Unfortunately, the board clearly wasn't able to come up with an equitable solution, and so each member voluntarily declared bankruptcy on March 30th, 2017. Here's the formal statement that Mad Catz Interactive President and CEO Karen McGinnis put forth regarding the company's cessation:
Regrettably and notwithstanding that for a significant amount of time the company has been actively pursuing its strategic alternatives, including various near term financing alternatives such as bank financing and equity infusions, as well as potential sales of certain assets of the Company or a sale of the Company in its entirety, the Company has been unable to find a satisfactory solution to its cash liquidity problems. The Board of Directors and management would like to acknowledge the outstanding efforts of the Company’s employees in support of its business, especially during the time that the Company faced financial difficulties. The Company would also like to thank the vendors and professional service providers who have supported the Company’s efforts during this time.
Mad Catz had placed a lot of faith on its partnership with Harmonix for Rock Band 4, even going so far as to secure extra funding for the partnership. This ended up being a costly move that only brought the company further into debt, incurring a massive shakeup of company executives, the firing of 37% of its staff, and the sale of its entire Saitek division. As the company's struggles continued into 2017, its stock plummeted so low that the New York Stock Exchange began officially delisting it, and it was at this point that the board of directors finally decided to file for bankruptcy after finding no viable options to save the company.
Mad Catz may strugged aplenty in its last few years of business, but the company will always be ingrained in the minds of many gamers for the sheer multitude of controllers and peripherals it produced since its creation in 1989. We wish all of its former employees the best.
Do you have fond memories of Mad Catz, Ranters?
Source: GlobeNewsWire