Years ago, Mad Catz was the brand we knew for all sorts of cheaply made and cheaply priced video game accessories. And then, some time around 2008, conveniently coinciding with the launch of Street Fighter IV, the brand made a huge resurgence and became a major player (pun intended) particularly in the fighting game community. After Mad Catz filed for bankruptcy last year, we thought it was the end of an era. We thought wrong, I guess.

During its modern heyday from 2008 to about 2016, Mad Catz was unafraid to experiment with weird controllers and micro consoles. They even thought about publishing their own games at one point. But maybe it was this unbridled ambition and lack of specific direction that led to the brand’s ultimate downfall. Maybe it’s because they invested a little too much into Rock Band plastic instruments.

Mad Catz, as a brand, will be making its triumphant return at CES in Las Vegas. Similar (but not really that similar) to how the BlackBerry brand is now utilized by TCL and the Nokia brand is used by HMD, Mad Catz isn’t really the old company, per se.

Instead, the arrangement is that a Chinese holding company went and bought up the old Mad Catz assets. From what I hear, some people from the old company are attached to the new venture, including several who were involved in the manufacturing of the much of the product line. These are folks who used to work at the company’s factories in China.

And while it doesn’t look like “Markman” Mark Julio will be around for this second go-around (and thus won’t be involved in a new generation of arcade sticks), PR dude Alex Verrey is involved again with Little Big PR representing Mad Catz once again. The product line picks up where the brand left off with such highlights as the RGB-enabled Strike 4 mechanical keyboard, Rat Air gaming mouse, and Freq 4 gaming headset. For now, they’re focusing on PC gaming, but console accessories may follow at some point in the future.

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So, apparently Mad Catz is “back in the game.” The company website is now live again, populated with details about its new product family, including several mice, keyboards, headsets and mousepads. Let’s hope for their sake they stick around this time.

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