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Mad Catz paid not to make Guitar Hero controllers

Published on 11th January 2010 by Joe Martin

Mad Catz has revealed how it actually paid money to detach itself from the hugely successful Hero games.

Mad Catz, manufacturer of controllers and peripherals, has disclosed the beginning of Guitar Hero franchise and how it actually came to detach itself from the project, for a fee.

According to Mad Catz boss Darren Richardson the company was commissioned to create the controllers for the Xbox version of the original Guitar Hero, which launched only on the PlayStation 2. The deal got a bit iffy when Konami's legal team caught wind of the project however and Richardson ended up actually paying to break the contract and detach Mad Catz from the franchise before it had yet gathered acclaim.

"Guitar Hero was a game that we were actually involved with early on and pulled out because of a lawsuit with Konami," Richardson told Kotaku.

"We were doing the Xbox SKU and that's why there was only a PlayStation 2 launch. That's why. We were in there and we pulled out as a result of [the lawsuit] and [Red Octane and Harmonix] went forward and it turned out to be a success, a huge success."

Richardson revealed that Mad Catz paid $300,000 USD in order to break the contract with Activision, over fears of the Konami lawsuit.

"Everyone else made hundreds of millions and we paid money to not be a part of it. It was brilliant," he added. "I come up with these strokes of genius from time to time. That was my best."

Let us know your thoughts in the forums.

12 Comments

Discuss in the forums Reply

liratheal 11th January 2010, 12:11

..Owned.

13eightyfour 11th January 2010, 12:51

Its nice to see the head of a company coming out and admitting he made a mistake, whats even better is hes more than capable of laughing it off.

TWeaK 11th January 2010, 13:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Article
"Everyone else made hundreds of millions and we paid money to not be a part of it. It was brilliant," he added. "I come up with these strokes of genius from time to time. That was my best."

Not one of the best lines to feed to your stockholders. I hope for his sake that none of them get wind of this.

Not too sure about Mad Catz controllers anyway. I used to have a few of them, including a wheel and pedals for the N64, and thinking back to them the build quality wasn't all that great. The pedals stopped working after a couple months, and the thumbsticks tended to wear out quicker than original controllers.

AlexB 11th January 2010, 13:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by titanium angel
Its nice to see the head of a company coming out and admitting he made a mistake, whats even better is hes more than capable of laughing it off.

Totally agree

PureSilver 11th January 2010, 14:00

It sounds like it wasn't really his mistake, more that the lawyers told him there'd be trouble. That's why he can tell us this without his stockholders lynching him; still, props for laughing it off...

1ad7 11th January 2010, 14:23

Ima go buy 50 mad catz controllers right now to support a CEO this honest, that will likely cost me what 20 bucks...

There quality sucked back in my PS2 days but idk maybe now Ill stop not buying there products.

13eightyfour 11th January 2010, 14:31

Like some of you i had a mad catz wheel, and yeah the quality wasnt great, From the looks of some of the newer stuff it seems like they may have sorted this now.

The new Rat mouse looks interesting, any chance of a review when its available?
http://cyborggaming.com/images/43708_3B.jpg

According to their website they're the company behind saitek, and i know a few people that have saitek keyboards and are quite impressed.

freedom810 11th January 2010, 15:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by titanium angel
Like some of you i had a mad catz wheel, and yeah the quality wasnt great, From the looks of some of the newer stuff it seems like they may have sorted this now.

The new Rat mouse looks interesting, any chance of a review when its available?
http://cyborggaming.com/images/43708_3B.jpg

According to their website they're the company behind saitek, and i know a few people that have saitek keyboards and are quite impressed.

I haz one! its glows pretty colours :D I love it.

MacWalka 11th January 2010, 15:22

That mouse just reminds me of the new Bat Mobile for some reason. Its just mental.

Krikkit 11th January 2010, 15:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by TWeaK
Not one of the best lines to feed to your stockholders. I hope for his sake that none of them get wind of this.

A decision like that needs to be documented, considered, consulted with a legal team and fielded for a vote with the rest of the board. Not something that one person makes - sometimes it can be the wrong call.

Quote:

Originally Posted by titanium angel
Its nice to see the head of a company coming out and admitting he made a mistake, whats even better is hes more than capable of laughing it off.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PureSilver
It sounds like it wasn't really his mistake, more that the lawyers told him there'd be trouble. That's why he can tell us this without his stockholders lynching him; still, props for laughing it off...

Both QFT ^^

Farfalho 11th January 2010, 16:33

The sarcasm he used just flawless xD I bet when he's bored at work, he remembers that particular situation and laughs his ass off just for fun. Well... I would if I were him.

Quote of the year candidate anyone?!

Makaveli 12th January 2010, 01:31

+1 Great Quote!