Mad Catz launches ThunderHawk Studios

After years of churning out peripherals, Mad Catz has made the leap to games developer. Has the world gone mad or what?

Apparently dissatisfied with existing flight sims, Mad Catz has opened Thunderhawk Studios to make something more worthy of the company's range of controllers.

Joystiq reports the resulting games will be MMO combat sims, and "leverage the market share leadership and global distribution enjoyed by [Mad Catz's] flight simulation hardware products".

There's some serious flight simulator skills at Mad Catz already - it manufactures commercial sims under the Saitek brand.

Although you may be reeling in shock, Mad Catz is already active in publishing and distribution, and is looking to wind ever more closely with the industry through development.

Say thank you to the band game phenomenon; I hesitate to imagine what extravagant cockpit tools we'll see from Mad Catz in the future now that it is okay to buy peripherals again. Expect more details from E3.