Mad Catz files for bankruptcy

Peripheral maker Mad Catz cooked up some fine hardware over the years, but over the past year it's also struggled to stay afloat: In February 2016, the company laid off roughly one-third of its staff, despite what appeared to be a lucrative deal with Harmonix to supply the official controllers for Rock Band 4 and serve as its global distributor. It didn't help. Last week it was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange over its "abnormally low trading price," and today GamesIndustry reported that Mad Catz has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

"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," Mad Catz president and CEO Karen McGinnis said in a statement.

Mad Catz said that it was forced to enter bankruptcy after being informed by its financial advisor that "no viable strategic alternative in respect of a sale of the Company or other corporate sale transaction" was available. Lenders were also unwilling to further increase its credit limits.

Unlike a Chapter 11 filing, which enables a company to reorganize under the oversight of the courts, Chapter 7 is not the kind of bankruptcy that a company comes back from: Mad Catz executives have resigned, the company has ceased operations, and it will now move to an "orderly liquidation" of its assets.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.