industry news
Mad Catz Secures Petz Licenz
Posted by Mike Fahey at 1:20 AM on July 9, 2008
Accessory manufacture Mad Catz have just announced that they've signed a licensing agreement with Ubisoft to create branded accessories for the Petz series of games for the Nintendo Wii and DS. Yes, that's right - Mad Catz is going to make accessories branded with Catz, as well as Dolphinz, Dogz, Horsez, Bunnyz, Tigerz, Hamsterz, and any other number of animals that can be pluralises by swapping out an S for a Z. The only question is why this didn't happen sooner.
"Ubisoft develops some of the most engaging, popular video game franchises and we look forward to enhancing the Petz gaming experience by producing accessories that capture the personality and excitement of these titles," said Darren Richardson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mad Catz.
No word on what sorts of accessoriez we can expect, but I'm thinking carrying cases for the DS, maybe a custom stylus or two. May the union of the misspelled animals be a fruitful one.
Mad Catz Secures Licence Agreement to Produce Ubisoft's Petz® Branded Accessories
SAN DIEGO—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Mad Catz Interactive, Inc. (AMEX/TSX: MCZ), a leading third-party interactive entertainment accessory provider, announced today that it has secured a licence from Ubisoft, one of the world's largest video game publishers, to produce branded accessories for the Petz® series of video games on Wii™ and Nintendo DS™ video game system platforms. The multi-year agreement allows Mad Catz to distribute products licensed under the agreement throughout the United States and Canada.Petz is a series of games in which players adopt, raise and care for cute, furry pets chosen from many different breeds of dogs, cats, horses, hamsters, dolphins, tigers and bunnies. The series currently includes Petz Dogz®, Petz Catz®, Petz Horsez®, Petz Hamsterz Life™, Petz Bunnyz™, Petz Wild Animals: Tigerz and Petz Wild Animals: Dolphinz.
"Ubisoft develops some of the most engaging, popular video game franchises and we look forward to enhancing the Petz gaming experience by producing accessories that capture the personality and excitement of these titles," said Darren Richardson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mad Catz. "The addition of the Petz franchise licence further strengthens and diversifies what we believe to be the video game accessory industry's most extensive portfolio of brand licenses that already includes all of the major North American professional sports leagues and many of the most popular recent and upcoming software titles."

Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
interstate78
Posted 2:20 AM 9/7/08
dont Blame Ubisoft for making games that sell, blame the people who buy them.
@Koztah: in 1995, the Playstation was barely out. You got it all wrong, it came out at about the same time as Nintendogs but for the GBA
interstate78
Koztah
Posted 2:06 AM 9/7/08
@Sooku:
ACTUALLY, Dogz as well as Catz came out in 1995. This was pre-Tamagotchi shit.
Koztah
Dannon
Posted 2:05 AM 9/7/08
How will they ever make a game for Sheep though?
Dannon
ThursdayNext
Posted 2:04 AM 9/7/08
What will Ubisoft do with Fish and Sheep?
Fizh? Zheep?
My head hurts...
ThursdayNext
enewtabie
Posted 1:58 AM 9/7/08
Hey Ubisoft,
Let's not forget the food industry,shall we?
You have Potatoez,Onionz,Steakz,Saladz,etc
enewtabie
Tesla7zap
Posted 1:54 AM 9/7/08
Here's hoping for Armadilloz
Tesla7zap
Sooku
Posted 1:53 AM 9/7/08
Crappy Nintendogs clone teams up with crappy 1st party clone. Appropriate.
Sooku
Grumpz®
Posted 1:48 AM 9/7/08
arrghghg it happened. Feeling.. strange... urge to play fashion titles growing...
Grumpz®
wild homes gets retconned!
Posted 1:36 AM 9/7/08
What was it Crecente said sells the Wii now?
(Deep breath, Steve Ballmer voice)
PERIPHERALS PERIPHERALS PERIPHERALS PERIPHERALS!
wild homes gets retconned!
enewtabie
Posted 1:36 AM 9/7/08
@Spoony Bard:
Awwzz
Appliez directlyz to ze foreheadz:
enewtabie
Grumpz®
Posted 1:35 AM 9/7/08
AAHHH! Ubisoft just bought me!
Grumpz®
megaStryke
Posted 1:35 AM 9/7/08
"Ubisoft develops some of the most engaging, popular video game franchises...," said Darren Richardson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mad Catz.
Technically, that's a true statement. He never specifically said that Petz was one of those "engaging, popular" franchises.
megaStryke
Tyber_Zann
Posted 1:34 AM 9/7/08
Zomg Madcatz haz Petz nowz? I'z gonnaz freakz outz, thez worldz iz endingz.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ*aneurysm*
Tyber_Zann
Spoony Bard
Posted 1:32 AM 9/7/08
@enewtabie: Don't startz that shitz with me. ;)
Spoony Bard
CHU BOI
Posted 1:29 AM 9/7/08
Arrrgh, so many z's!
CHU BOI
enewtabie
Posted 1:28 AM 9/7/08
@Spoony Bard:
Clearly you are not prepared for Chickenz,Turtlez and Fishez Coming Fall 08!
enewtabie
endaround
Posted 1:28 AM 9/7/08
It should have been spelled "Securz"
endaround
LittleBigPlaneteer
Posted 1:28 AM 9/7/08
You should have wrote Securez for maximum effect
LittleBigPlaneteer
AndrewG009
Posted 1:27 AM 9/7/08
I can haz decent peripheralz pleaze?
AndrewG009
MarkMan
Posted 1:27 AM 9/7/08
Best article title ever...
MarkMan
liquid_kore
Posted 1:26 AM 9/7/08
Cheezeburgur controllerz plz
liquid_kore
PsycheE
Posted 1:25 AM 9/7/08
I know what kind of accessories will be produced to go hand in hand with the franchise.
"Pluralized Animalz" Tagz.
PsycheE
Grumpz®
Posted 1:25 AM 9/7/08
there is petz accessory packages out already, have been for at least a couple months.
Grumpz®
Spoony Bard
Posted 1:24 AM 9/7/08
Fahey, your title to the post makes my eyes hurttttttt.....
And of course so does the news...
Spoony Bard
hikaizer
Posted 1:23 AM 9/7/08
It seems strangely appropriate.
hikaizer
WK016
Posted 2:58 AM 9/7/08
@interstate78:
Do some reading.
[en.wikipedia.org]
[en.wikipedia.org]
The first Petz games were for the PC and featured Catz and Dogz only. It started in 1995 and they also made a GameBoy Color version. Ubisoft's reimagining of the Petz series (ugh) didn't happen until 2006 where they went animalz crazy. This included the GBA version that you mentioned.
WK016
kubevubin
Posted 2:54 AM 9/7/08
Damn, I knew that I should've patented using the letter z in the place of the letter s. I could've retired by now...
kubevubin
Pombar
Posted 2:51 AM 9/7/08
I personally can't wait for Goldfizh
Pombar
DukeOfPwn
Posted 2:46 AM 9/7/08
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
And I just won the battle for the most Z's needlessly thrown into a comment at one time!
DukeOfPwn
excaliburps
Posted 2:43 AM 9/7/08
@wild homes gets retconned!: Why I said that before as a joke and I was lambasted by Nintendo fans. Shhh...They're NEEDED peripherals y'know. =)
Too many Z jokes to even try and do one. Ah the Z stands for teh extremez marketingz skillz no?!
excaliburps
TrjnRabbit
Posted 2:31 AM 9/7/08
Jezuz H Crizt!
Ztop encouraging thiz abuze of the Englizh language!
TrjnRabbit
Coquiton
Posted 2:25 AM 9/7/08
@Sooku:
This.
They were awesome games too, I remeber getting hooked on Petz 3 way back when.
Middle School for me was full of Petz and Runescape.
Ah...the memories. ^_^
Coquiton
Wolfers
Posted 2:23 AM 9/7/08
A match made in heaven.
Wolfers
Purple Dave
Posted 3:37 AM 9/7/08
@Eltigro:
My sister was once bitten by a moosez.
@enewtabie:
Oh, my.
Purple Dave
Purple Dave
Posted 3:35 AM 9/7/08
Actually, what I'm waiting to see is for the logical release of the Mad Catz game, where you're given a kitten, and everything is laced with near-OD levels of catnip.
Purple Dave
enewtabie
Posted 3:33 AM 9/7/08
@Swizzler121:
But,that's not all Sizzler121.You can also receive the official Zooz Animalz pak with Lionz,Tigerz, and Bearz!
enewtabie
Swizzler121
Posted 3:17 AM 9/7/08
@enewtabie: don't forget the title the whole family will enjoy, llamaz!
Swizzler121
Mal-Content
Posted 3:15 AM 9/7/08
All these Z's are making my heat hurt. But its also making everyone sound very French in my head.
Mal-Content
Eltigro
Posted 3:12 AM 9/7/08
"any other number of animals that can be pluralizes by swapping out an S for a Z."
Why stop there?
I'd like to see Moosez, Micez, Deerz, and Sheepz.
The last one might only get released in New Zealand though...
Eltigro
markusdragon
Posted 3:08 AM 9/7/08
The old Petz games were quite good, and were based on PF Magic's 3D-esque Ballz style graphics. The new ones are just cheap cash-ins on the branding.
markusdragon
Reetesh
Posted 3:45 AM 9/7/08
ZacreBleu!
Ze Zs be killingZ meZ!
Reetesh
malio
Posted 4:48 AM 9/7/08
Ubisoft is becoming an internet meme unto itself. lolz
malio
cynopt
Posted 5:18 AM 9/7/08
Noooo! The Blood-Titles of Dr. Z return!!
cynopt
ServiceMaster
Posted 7:25 AM 9/7/08
Personally I can't wait for Mooze.
ServiceMaster
maraxusofk
Posted 7:14 AM 9/7/08
this sure is big news. let me break out the party hats and ballons for this.
maraxusofk
dArk_stAr
Posted 7:40 AM 9/7/08
@Tesla7zap: i just might play "armadilloz."
this "z" trend is the most ridiculous and amusing misspelling incident in gaming.
dArk_stAr
Knukleur
Posted 7:39 AM 9/7/08
Whacka-Molez, with a MadCatz rubber mallet attachment for the Wiimote?
Knukleur
Ryanraven
Posted 9:25 AM 9/7/08
and what about geese? Geeze? those canadian girls need to play petz also!!
Ryanraven
Shachihoko
Posted 5:21 PM 9/7/08
Zo, there iz no need to zwitch out the "Z" on Looney Toon'z Tazmania Devil?
Let zee.... Zebraz, Znakez, Znailz, Zlugz, Zharkz, Ztagz, Zteerz, Ztallionz, Zpiderz, Zeagullz, Zterlingz, Zand Doller, Ztarfizhz....Ztegozarouz?
Shachihoko