LADYDRAGON.COM - Fire International Software to Power Mad Catz' GameShark Video Game Enhancements

Friday January 24, 2003

Fire International Software to Power Mad Catz' GameShark Video Game Enhancements

Mad Catz to Incorporate Other Technologies From Fire International Into New Leading Edge Products

Mad Catz Interactive, Inc. (AMEX/TSE:MCZ), the world's leading third party video game accessory manufacturer, announced today that it has entered into a multi-year technology agreement with Fire International Ltd. and its related companies (Fire).

Under terms of the agreement, Mad Catz has secured exclusive North American rights, as well as non-exclusive rights in many other countries, to Fire's video game enhancement technology. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Mad Catz will implement Fire's technology in its recently acquired GameShark brand of video game enhancements.

Pursuant to the agreement, Mad Catz also gained the right of first refusal to incorporate other Fire technologies into new Mad Catz products on an exclusive basis in North America and non-exclusively in many other countries. As reported at the time of its acquisition of the GameShark brand and the www.gameshark.com web site URL, Mad Catz anticipates shipping GameShark products with an extensive range of software cheats and hints in March.

Commenting on the agreement, Darren Richardson, President and COO of Mad Catz Inc., said, "Fire International, with market leading intellectual property and technology development and design capabilities, is an ideal partner to provide us with the elements to build on the already impressive GameShark platform. We also plan to incorporate their patented technologies and specialized expertise in areas such as education and mobile phone gaming, into exciting new products for North America and abroad, thereby allowing us to expand our business into new sectors and new territories."

Jason Cooper, Managing Director, Fire International, added "Working with Mad Catz creates several unique opportunities. First, marrying our leading edge game enhancement technology with the industry leading GameShark brand is a win-win situation for both companies as well as gamers. Second, we look forward to working closely with Mad Catz and leveraging their industry leading design and retail relationships to realize the full potential of our technologies and to bring exciting new products to a broader market than ever before. Again, we see this as a benefit to both companies as well as to retailers and consumers."

Morris Perlis, Mad Catz Interactive, President and CEO, added, "This relationship and the agreement to acquire GameShark are consistent with our long-term commitment to Mad Catz' corporate and financial growth. These agreements are both strategic and financial as they tremendously improve our competitive position, further cement retail relationships and are expected to contribute to our bottom line. Strategically this relationship allows us to seamlessly incorporate Fire's cutting edge technology into our GameShark brand, and continue delivering to retailers and consumers the quality and sophistication they expect from GameShark and Mad Catz. This relationship also makes great financial sense as it enables us to offer even more new exclusive products to retailers and consumers. The incorporation of Fire's technologies into new Mad Catz products will support our goals for margin enhancement and financial growth."

About Fire International Ltd.

Founded in 1993 by Jason Cooper as a distributor of accessories for the video game market, Fire International and its related companies have increasingly specialized in the development of patented technology, applications and software for the interactive entertainment industry. Areas of specialization, other than game enhancement software include applications for wireless devices and educational gaming. Fire recently secured a contract with Motorola for wireless content billing authentication. Based in Doncaster, UK, Fire also has offices in Sheffield, Manchester and in the U.S. in Chicago.

About Mad Catz Interactive, Inc.

Mad Catz Interactive, Inc., (www.madcatz.com), designs, develops, manufactures and markets a full range of high quality, competitively priced accessories for video game consoles and portables. Mad Catz is a worldwide leader of innovative peripherals in the interactive entertainment industry, with distribution through nine of the top ten U.S. retailers offering interactive entertainment products. With operating headquarters in San Diego, California, Mad Catz has offices in Canada, the U.K. and Asia, as well as distributors in Europe and Australia.