Logitech Acquires Peripheral Specialist Saitek

In a surprising, or maybe a better word is unsuspected, move, Logitech acquired peripheral specialist Saitek from MadCatz – and it costs them less than you might think. Logitech paid $13 million USD in cash for the company who specialized in game-specific peripherals for simulation games such as flight simulators, racing games, and farming games.

$13 million sounds like a lot of money, and it is, but when you think of what Logitech gains in experience and devices as well as them pretty much becoming the sole manufacturer in this market, I’d call it a bargain.

Ujesh Desai, head of Logitech’s gaming peripherals brand Logitech G, said: “The acquisition should augment the kind of gaming peripherals Saitek specializes in – joysticks for flight simulators, and customized racing wheels for motorsport sims.”

Logitech G is a gaming brand and a big part of future gaming lies within virtual reality as well as augmented reality. However, it is unlikely that Logitech will brand into head-mounted-displays (HMD) and instead, it looks like they could focus a lot more on the peripherals used in conjunction with VR/AR gaming. This purchase of Saitek could be the first step in that direction. Saitek has specialized in peripherals for specific games for a while, such as Farming Simulator just to name one, which further confirms this conclusion.

For me personally, the simulation genres are the only ones that really interest me when it comes to VR. I don’t want to run around in first person shooters in VR, although I do get why a lot of people would want this. Instead, I’d much rather be able to fly my planes with VR in cockpit view and get the full experience. Be able to look up and to the side in hectic situations or look down at my controls and displays. Or the same when driving, may it be in a racing game or one of my all-time favourite games Truck Simulator 2 where it would be so much easier to navigate or park those large trucks when being able to freely look around – but I wouldn’t want to miss out on my flight stick and throttle as well as steering wheel, shifter, and pedals at the same time. The combination of VR and Logitech/Saitek peripherals seems perfect.

I’m sure we’ll find out a lot more of Logitech’s plans with their newest acquisition in the near future, and we’ll keep you updated as soon as we know more.