History is full of successes, failures, mistakes and more or less fortunate decisions. If we are lucky, throughout our existence we can hit a couple of them. But the harsh reality shows that some human beings seem condemned not to give even one, to take whenever the situation demands it, the worst of the roads. Ask MadCatz .
The well-known company that designs and manufactures peripherals was about to become a millionaire , or rather, a multi-millionaire. He was able to touch the sky, the glory, with the tips of his fingers but a bad decision made everything go to waste. Of course, who could assure them that ‘ Guitar Hero’ would be successful?
They were involved from the beginning of the project with Red Octane and Harmonix. The guys at MadCatz had to develop the guitars and everything seemed to be on the right track. In fact they were working on the unreleased first version for Xbox 360. Suddenly and without warning Konami in a spin. The judicial fight was served and despite the fact that time and the judge would dictate a sentence in favor of the Harmonix, Red Octane and MadCatz project, it was impossible to foresee what could happen.
Looking at things from the position of the device manufacturer, the best solution was to get out of all that problem. They would pay the $ 300,000 penalty for abandoning the project that the three companies had closed, and so, at the very least, they would not have to face much more expensive amounts when Konami finished with them.
But the story was very different as you all know. Red Octane and Harmonix continued their lawsuits until they finally won and turned ‘Guitar Hero’ into a multi-million dollar franchise. Millions and millions of dollars to distribute and in a company called MadCatz they were with $ 300,000 less. It’s easy to understand how your CEO Darren Richardson feels.
“Guitar Hero ‘was a game in which we were involved from the beginning but that we abandoned due to a dispute with Konami. We were developing the SKU for Xbox and that is why it never came out on that platform and only did it on PS2 We were there and quit because of the legal confrontation with Konami. Red Octane and Harmonix went on, won, and on top of that they managed to make the franchise a huge success. “
“Everybody made hundreds of millions of dollars and it turns out that we ended up paying not to be a part of that success. It was brilliant, every now and then I have those strokes of genius, but that was my best moment.”
Of course, there is nothing like taking it with humor. Without risking there is no prize, but it is also true that sometimes it is better not to have a prize and to stay as is than to lose everything. What would you have done?
Via | Kotaku
- PS2
- Industry
- Music
