Street Fighter IV Products Decline, Mad Catz Shows Quarterly Loss

Peripherals maker Mad Catz saw sales fall 11 percent to $19.9 million in its first fiscal quarter thanks to a fall-off in Street Fighter IV products and lower PC and handheld peripherals sold, alongside a $1.4 million loss for the quarter. The company had something of a safety net in a new acquisition, however: it picked up Tritton Technologies on May 25, and as such is seeing higher audio product sales. It appears to be something of a lull quarter for Mad Catz, which for the past couple of years has been the beneficiary of increasing pushes by software publishers to seek the higher revenues in peripheral-reliant games. That's why it's looking like the company may have stronger prospects ahead; it's signed an exclusive deal to be upcoming Rock Band 3's peripherals partner and will provide products for likely blockbuster Call of Duty: Black Ops. Further, Mad Catz notes it plans to seek opportunities in the launches of PlayStation Move, Microsoft Kinect and 3D gaming, which add more accessories to the home video game experience. "A tough comparison with last year’s Street Fighter IV product success and the timing of the new product releases in this year’s fiscal first quarter led to lower net sales relative to the near-record level of a year-ago," explains president and CEO Darren Richardson. "However, we continue to believe we can achieve or exceed our previously-stated goal of high single-digit percent year-over-year organic revenue growth in fiscal 2011. "