Mad Catz Sells Saitek To Logitech

[Darr Valen]

Title as taken from Craptaku. The actual happening is worth noting.
Madcatz, who has made some pretty bad products for a while, has sold Saitek to Logitech. Remember when Saitek products weren't plauged with QC issues? Pepperridge Farms remembers.. and so do I. I'm excited about what this means for us CMDRs that use Saitek and Logitech products, and wish Logitech made HOTAS or Saitek had Logitech reliability. Here's hoping for an Logitech X57.

The text of the article:

In 2007 Mad Catz purchased relatively venerable PC peripheral maker Saitek for $30 million. After nearly nine years of flight sticks and farming controllers, Mad Catz is passing Saitek over to Logitech for a mere $13 million.

Being a relatively old man, I’ve been playing with Saitek stuff since not long after the company was founded back in 1979. One of the first bits of hardware I reviewed came from Saitek, a flight stick of some sort. I liked what they did.

So did Mad Catz, so they bought the company in 2007, had them do some wacky shit, and basically reduced its sale value to a fraction of what it was nearly a decade ago. Mad Catz will be holding on to the keyboards, mice and other salable items resulting from the original acquisition, while the brand and its line of flight, farming and other simulation controllers will be in Logitech’s hands, along with Saitek’s R&D department and equipment.

Here’s Karen McGinnis, president and CEO of Mad Catz, via official announcement, “After a thorough and deliberate process, we believe this sale to Logitech brings Mad Catz attractive and certain value for the flight, space and farm simulation line of Saitek products. We 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 while also allowing us to continue to leverage the world-class mice, keyboards and other products that were originally developed on the back of our acquisition of Saitek in 2007 and are now sold under the Mad Catz brand.”

Logitech feels like a much better fit for Saitek than Mad Catz ever was, so hopefully we’ll see big things coming in the future. I could use a nice flight stick.

Link Sauce - http://kotaku.com/mad-catz-sells-saitek ... 1786689563

[JohnLuke]

Humm.... interesting. We'll have to see how this develops.

Thanks for posting the info, Darr Valen.

[CMDR Abil Midena]

Given that Logitech has a ton of peripherals already, it will likely result in Logitech ending all things Saitek, and using any IP they got to make new Logitech gear.

Note that I have been called cynical at times.

[Darr Valen]

Given that Logitech has a ton of peripherals already, it will likely result in Logitech ending all things Saitek, and using any IP they got to make new Logitech gear.

Note that I have been called cynical at times.

You make that sound like a bad thing though.. Madcatz did a pretty good job of wrecking Saitek's reliability in many gamers' eyes. If the X56 had been made by logitech, I'd likely own one today. I couldn't get over the madcatz QC issues. Instead, I'm sitting here hoping my cat-broken x52 holds out until someone else makes something better, or biting the bullet, and getting another old pre-madcatz x52, a cheap looking circa 1996 CH stick, or a stupidly expensive Warthog that requires pedals, a painful proposition for people that have ever broken a hip.


I'd also bet there might be a decent stick coming to the XB1 at the very least, for E:D1 users.

[Loriath]

You make that sound like a bad thing though.. Madcatz did a pretty good job of wrecking Saitek's reliability in many gamers' eyes. If the X56 had been made by logitech, I'd likely own one today. I couldn't get over the madcatz QC issues. Instead, I'm sitting here hoping my cat-broken x52 holds out until someone else makes something better, or biting the bullet, and getting another old pre-madcatz x52, a cheap looking circa 1996 CH stick, or a stupidly expensive Warthog that requires pedals, a painful proposition for people that have ever broken a hip.


I'd also bet there might be a decent stick coming to the XB1 at the very least, for E:D1 users.

I think they will be keeping the designs, but updating the QC to make them decent again. Although I do think the Saitek brand name is damaged beyond worth keeping.

And if you can't wait Darr, I suggest you look at the Thrustmaster T1600 stick and throttle (they even have pedals) as they are know for great build quality.
Throttle
Stick
Pedals

When, (not if, I know it will blow up on me sooner or later) I will be replacing my X52Pro with this stuff UNLESS Logitech has cleaned things up, but I think it will take a year or so.

[Walter]

I couldn't get over the madcatz QC issues. Instead, I'm sitting here hoping my cat-broken x52 holds out until someone else makes something better, or biting the bullet, and getting another old pre-madcatz x52, a cheap looking circa 1996 CH stick, or a stupidly expensive Warthog that requires pedals, a painful proposition for people that have ever broken a hip. .

Get your cat to buy its own stick.

[TorTorden]

Granted I have avoided Saitek so far, but I am honestly close to start avoiding logitech as well.
Sure they'll replace your broken devices, but 9 out of 10 times it is THEIR drivers and software that break it and on top they charge a premium on whatever plastic shite they sell.

I was immediately disappointed with my g19's feel when typing and the g13 is even worse where keys tend to wobble and go down crooked, sure it does what it says on the tin but it just feels horribly cheap.

Razer charges even more, feels great but breaks in both hardware and software before you can even say headshot, it's like " hey want to buy a $200 keyboard, and btw it doesn't work with Microsoft Word or excell" ...

No I'm not optimistic.

[Geopan]

I was considering to buy either a X55 or a X52 exactly one year earlier. I was reading a lot of complaints about the X55 and I still do. There was a point where in my country the difference in prize between the two of them was a mere 10€!

Namely, the X55 was at 190€ (from almost 300€ when it was introduced in market) while the X52 was at 180€ and actually became more expensive when the X55 was introduced, before that I had it found at a price as low as 150€!!!

I was naturally tempted to go for the X55. And at the last moment I decided against it!

Since then I have been using my X52 almost daily for 1 to 6 hours and, apart from the loss of the "click" feeling when I press one hat downwards, everything else work perfectly.

In short, I am very happy with my decision. If it lasts another two years I will gladly buy again one of these.

As for Logitech, my experience is limited to some wireless mouses and keyboards, one Logitech Freedom 2.4 bought 10+ years before and one Logitech Driving Force GT. The DFGT was heavily used with no problem at all and was sold used, the buyer never bothered me with any kind of complaints. The stick was moderately used on and off with Il2:1946. It was kept in storage for some years and was taken out when Elite made its appearance. It still works with the exception of 1 button (out of the 14 and it's not the trigger button).

All in all, I am happy with Logitech too. Up to now at least. One good remark though is that all the products described above were relatively early products of Logitech, so they may be not representative of the company's current Quality Control.

[Cometborne]

I have been using Logitech products for quite some time, mostly wireless mice and keyboards. During this time, the quality of the products has remained high, but the quality of their customer support has grown steadily worse. My last experience with Logitech's support while trying to BUY some replacement parts outside of warranty was so bad that I have decided to take my money elsewhere in the future.

[TorTorden]

I'll also add this.
I used to have a logitech g940 the wireless version of the g35 headset.
But when I moved to win 8 on my new machine it doesn't work, it just drops and reconnects constantly, like every 5 seconds.

Solution, close the gamepanel software which also means none of my macro buttons works..
There was no update, no new drivers. Past windows 7 that headset was worthless.
Haven't bought a logitech product since, doubt I will.