Thrustmaster

Thrustmaster gamepad.

Norm Winningstad helped found Thrustmaster in 1990 in Hillsboro, Oregon.[1] By early 1991 the company began advertising the Thrustmaster Weapons Control System in computer magazines.[2] It worked mainly on developing flight control for simulation on IBM Compatible Computers. The company has utilized the HOTAS system for use in computer flight simulation and has modeled some controllers after flight controls of real aircraft. The company made their name in making the expensive but high quality HOTAS controllers in middle 1990s. By 1995, its sales grew to $15 million, and then to $25 million by 1998.[3]

In July 1999, the gaming peripherals operations and brand name was acquired from Thrustmaster for $15 million by the Guillemot Corporation Group of France (which also bought Hercules Computer Technology that same year and merged the 2 companies in a company called Hercules Thrustmaster, with headquarters in Carentoir, France, while keeping the 2 brands separate).[3]

The new Thrustmaster company gradually extended the product portfolio beyond flight simulation to other simulation peripherals for PC, PlayStation and Xbox consoles:

• racing simulation as the T-GT, TS-XW, YX-RW, T300, T150, T80, TH8A gearbox, TSSH Handbrake, BT LED display, and wheels add-ons,
• gamepads as GPX, Score-A, T-Wireless, Dual Analog, eSwap, DualShock controller,
• gaming headphones as Y-C300 CPX, T.Assault Six, T.Racing Scuderia Ferrari Edition and T.Flight U.S. Air Force Edition headset.

In 2019, Thrustmaster turnover is €59 millions (US$ 66 millions).[4]

Formerly one of their most expensive joysticks is the HOTAS Cougar, a close but not exact reproduction of both the throttle and stick that is used in the real F-16 fighter aircraft.[5] The product features all-metal construction and numerous programming possibilities but is hampered by low-quality potentiometers, leading to a thriving replacement industry. Some of the devices have had reported quality problems, including play in the centering springs and the tendency of the speedbrake switch to break due to a manufacturing defect (this has been fixed on later serial numbers).

Many independent companies have produced replacement components for the Cougar to address these issues. These include redesigned gimbals that center more firmly, contactless potentiometers to replace worn originals, and even several force-controlled mods that make the stick sense pressure without moving (similar to an F-16 stick). Besides fixing complaints with the original product, these aftermarket parts have the potential to extend the life of the Cougar well past the time when Thrustmaster stops supporting it, but usually at double, even triple the price of the original purchase. However, the market for such mods tends to be limited, and many customers keep their Cougars as they came from the factory.

The HOTAS Cougar was replaced by the HOTAS Warthog in 2010, which replicates the flight controls used in the A-10 Thunderbolt II, using Hall effect sensors for the joystick and throttle axes instead of potentiometers.