MadCatz Enters Game Development As ThunderHawk Studios

Mad Catz Interactive, best known for its gaming peripherals and entertainment accessories, has announced the formation of its own game development branch ThunderHawk Studios. The newly formed studio will focus on developing MMO flight simulation titles, with the first game set to be released sometime in 2012. Darren Richardson, president and chief executive officer of Mad Catz, said of the move, "The formation of ThunderHawk Studios is an important milestone as we pursue our longer term goal of expanding our participation in developing, publishing and distributing games." "The addition of flight simulation games should leverage the market share leadership and global distribution enjoyed by our flight simulation hardware products." Earlier in the year, Mad Catz acquired the assets of V Max Simulation Corporation, a California-based flight sim software developer and equipment maker, in a $638,000 deal. [UPDATE: Mad Catz has now also announced another game that it plans to unveil next week at E3. War Wings: Hell Catz is in development by Melbourne, Australia-based TrickStar Games, and is set to be the first in a series of War Wings games published by Mad Catz, that will explore "critical eras in aviation combat."]