Last week, we reported that something might be funny with MadCatz’s first batch of Street Fighter IV Special Edition Arcade FightSticks. Several members of the Shoryuken message board were voicing their complaints over a sticking issue with the controller’s joystick. One inquisitive member disassembled his FightStick and diagnosed the problem quickly, but voided his warranty in the process.
MadCatz global media manager Alex Verrey told 1UP that the problem has been blown out of proportion. “We have shipped tens of thousands of standard Arcade FightSticks. I can assure you, the number of consumers who have actually contacted us with this issue numbers well under 50 to date,” he said in the interview. “This really is a very small minor issue, one now rectified.”
Various issues have been reported since the SE: FightStick has become available to the masses. Some have complained of unresponsive buttons. Others -- including myself -- opened up the shiny box to find a scuffed faceplate. Verrey went on to describe that any issue will be fixed:
Those who have an issue will have the issue fixed. By us. Free of charge. We even pay for the postage and packing. We ask that consumers relax. It is almost certain that there will be no issue and for the few who have a problem, we are already set up to rectify it for free and quickly.
When I opened the box to find that my FightStick had a defect, I could only laugh. It was mere hours after I reported the sticky joystick problem. Did any of you get a wonky or scratched FightStick?
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Contest:
1:00 AM on 02.20.2009
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Sarcasm intended.
Never have I purchased anything MadCatz, and had it last longer than a week without breaking.
(sorry -- it had to be said)
Well after reading an article exactly on the subject of its SFIV sticks in last months issue of EDGE, MC have my support on the matter, & a big part of this is how they went about producing the sticks in the first place. I’m not going into details, but if you read the article you’ll learn that, with the help of a guy named Mark Julio it sounds like MC now taken a different path & may have indeed created the highest quality sticks available.
I say give them a chance Detoiders.
Their Rockband P-Bass is pretty great. Its been used extensively in house here and no problems, feels much better in the hands than any previous MC product for sure.
Madcatz does have a pretty bad rep, well ederved one it is as well, but the SFIV products are really good. They seem to really be making an effort with these products. And I think it is unfortunate that the issues that really are few and far between are being blown out of proportion by a vocal minority.
By looking at message boards these days it is made to appear that every single standard edition fight stick ever is completely FUBAR. Which I think is a bit unfair. Especially considering Madcatz' realitvely good response, which is fixing it for you asap free of charge.
It might be more productive if people who are having trouble would just call Madcatz support and send it for a quick repair, rather than spend ten times the time and effort going on a ranting emo wrist cutting spree on the internet.
Just my 2cent.
In any case, I went and got a TE figth stick, a standard edition one and two fight pads, in order to start my own little fight room at University, and so far they are everything I hoped for.
So there, at least one success story. ^_^
Had my stick since the 10th, been using it with STHD and SF4 since, none of this stickiness or unresponsive crap. Just ask jimbo :P
It's not blown out of proportion at all, nor is it a case where 'whenever something is mass produced a few defects always come out'... This is a huge group of people all reporting the exact same issues- to the point where Mad Catz had to come out, issue a press release, and change the warranty terms to let people know they will fix it even if the warranty is voided. NOT your run of the mill few bad units scenario. The cause of the issue has already been noted, and it is clearly a design flaw, because even if you don't notice the sticking/input issues the quality of the stick is degrading over time, as the washer is rubbing against the pcb which eventually will rub the contacts off.
Thousands of companies release products all the time where issues are not as widespread as this one. If you look at those forums, it's not full of people ranting and raving, it's full of disappointed people who read the other comments and confirming "yup, it happened to me too", and I think its good that people are doing that so others who were thinking of getting the stick can get a good idea of how widespread the problem is. That shows proof to them that it's not just a few unlucky people.
The TE stick is more an example of the inevitable 'few bad units' kind of problem. There have been a few reports of problems, but not huge threads dedicated to it, or articles on it or anything. It's the same type of audience buying both sticks- so the difference in reaction should show that the SE version defects are a REAL problem and not just overblown.
The messed up thing is that people who notice the issue are seeing it in like the first 15 minutes of play, which means Mad Catz either has incredibly incompetent QA, or just none at all...
Anyways I bought two of the things, one for each system, and I can tell you the problem is the cheap knock-off joystick inside it. It sucks. Its engineered poorly so I can only imagine that the problem is in every unit, but people just haven't noticed any issues arising from the stick....yet.