PC peripherals specialist Saitek has told MCV that it is eager to use its relationship with its new owner to gain a handle on the Xbox 360 market.

MadCatz, which is an official Xbox 360 licensee, acquired Saitek for $30 million last week, following its swoop for fellow peripherals giant Joytech in October.

And Saitek CEO Paul Millar says the deal could help the firm move away from being a PC-only manufacturer – as well as bringing other advantages.

“MadCatz is an Xbox 360 licensee – the biggest in the US, I believe,” he told MCV. “The architecture between a 360 peripheral and the sort of PC gaming peripheral we already make is very similar. For that reason, it’s fair to say that you could expect to see Saitek 360 peripherals next year.

“When it comes to PC gaming peripherals, we kind of know everyone in the market – everyone we want to work with and everyone we don’t. But the other side to our business, PC input devices like mouses and keyboards will be helped no end by the MadCatz deal.

“It gives us the opportunity to take advantage of a crossover market – for example, distribution into supermarkets.”

MadCatz expects all of Saitek’s 120 employees in development, sales, marketing and finance divisions to remain on board following the multi-million dollar acquisition.

“It’s largely going to be business as usual for us,” added Millar. “We can help MadCatz by adding in more development style and design, whilst they can teach us about getting products to market quicker.”