I really hope they restore reliability and customer service to the brand. As as a new and aspiring sim racer I’m really interested in fanatec products but have held off for the last 6/8 months as of the rumours of their poor customer service
fire the marketing who spend lots of money to put their name on real racing supporter, and manage, finance Just keep product dev, customer support let Corsair do it
I agree, bought the gt3 wheel a few weeks ago, took 4 weeks to come and then all the faf with import fee’s etc… although it did work out cheaper than buying a second hand one off ebay 🤣
The thing with Corsair is that they can afford to do the right thing for the customer for long term loyalty, so its a short term cost that often leads to long term loyalty
One thing which does not get mentioned is that Fanatec is not a global supplier. Outside Europe and North America, only Japan and Australia can receive deliveries. When Asia is a huge gaming market, it’s deliberately limiting global market share. As a direct-to-consumer company, that’s suicidal.
You are absolutely right about Fanatecs confusing naming process. I am looking to upgrade to direct drive and trying to work out what's what in Fanatec's line up is a challenge. I look at Moza and they've got the nm on the name, makes it easy, R9, R12, etc., Fanatec, CSL, DD. DD+ ??????
The thing I worry about is. Is Fanatec going to be around for the long haul? I currently own a GT DD Pro (8NM) and want to upgrade to the CS DD+ in the very near future. Also, will this hostile take over cause their prices to go up?🤔
Personally I just want some indicator stalks from Fanatec and a truck rim of 450mm (or at least 400mm like Moza's offering). I think that's an area of the market they just left laying on the table.
@@Kireth Yup, I am from the Netherlands personally. Trucking is big here too. Going by SCS their partnership succes maybe getting a real DAF, Volvo or Scania to get reworked to a Fanatec ecosystem compatible wheel and stalks... no brainer! Besides, I am willing to bet the brands would jump on the opportunity.
Order the clubsport 320 wheel bundle with APM endurance module and podium hub on the 17th April. Order is still somehow processing 🤦🏽♂️it was pre order for 29th April due to qr2. Now the podium hub is out of stock till June 11th. Email sent asking if that means I’m waiting till then too even though it was in stock when I ordered. Nothing back yet. £700 on wheel that I’ll not see for 2 months
Thank you for all the helpful videos. You have been the only one who has covered this subject extensively as you have been seen. Keep up the good work. 🍎💪
Love the content but I think you're underestimating the ease of retail as potential here. 1. The impact on margins (which is alright extremely tight given the competition and the fact that Black Friday deals were loss leaders for Fanatec and that they weren't making money. Too many entrants flooded the market. We realistically don't need 5 - 8 makers of pedals.) 2. Sim driving equipment is not ideal for retail. a) Extremely niche (even if growing) means low demand and really slow inventory turnover. b) Bulky and expensive from an inventory perspective increasing carry costs of holding inventory c) Existing competitive relationships: Logitech will have something to say about this if Best Buy wants to stock this d) Lack of direct connection with the audience Customer service is a solvable problem. Crushing your margins by 40% on suite of products that lose money every year is not. Anyways... good content.
I agree with most points raised. I work in (IT) servicemanagement myself and it's amazing to see how it's just a blind spot to so many people (especially those in charge). The thought is often that proper customer service is just costing the company money. IMO a very short sighted view and the consequences can be dire, as you see here. I also agree with your last sentement about Jackermeier himself. It takes a lot of vision, courage, and frankly hard work to take the company from zero to where it is today and that demands a lot of respect. Having said that, I also think the man is arrogant. It takes a different kind of leader to take the company out of that startup phase into the next and it's very common to change leadership at that point. I think Jackermeier was just too arrogant to do that, stubbornly ran the company like he used to (because it's worked so far, right?) and now has to deal with the consequences. Personally, I feel like he could see this coming, especially living in a country with these controversial "starug" laws, and really only has himself to blame. Maybe it's sad for him but look at it this way, if he would've continued as CEO it's more than likely a lot of people would've lost their jobs. And dare I say those people were possibly more instrumental in Fanatec's succes than Jackermeier..
I've had a few issues with corsair products in the past but I sure do love my fanatec gear so I have high hopes for the future of fanatec. It sucks people still haven't got there black Friday from 2023. I hope that's the main priority for fanatec
distribution and logistics were single-handedly the biggest crutch right, with secondary being customer service? Corsair being able to not only ship better, but be present worldwide without hindrance from one central HQ location, can potentially boost the brand into sky-high proportions. I get TJ wanting to do this himself, and pride being a possible factor, but it's undeniable that Corsair is a strong force that can significantly benefit their operation. Elgato has German roots, working out so far, obviously joking that this must also go the same way, but who knows?
Corsair biggest contribution would be to distribution. We need to be able to order, and receive in a timely fashion. Or even better, have it stocked on shelves.
even with the support and receiving wrong parts...one has to ask what the work environment was like for the employees to just generally don't care about doing their job. I hope if Corsair keeps them on, they whip themselves into shape
I think most important thing would being able to have someone to talk about your product with after purchase. Some support... instead of an automated message that means nothing.
If fanatec starts to sell in retail than I will probably get one, after all only companies that dont belive in their products sell directly to customers from their website.
My guess is it will get a lot worse in the short term. StaRUG will include personell cuts which affect delivery and support reliability. Think of it this way: how will you handle your job tomorrow if 50% of your colleagues just went out of the door. This might include their suppliers losing claim on current or upcoming deliveries damaging their short-/midterm delivery pipeline. Maybe even losing some of their most reliable suppliers. Ultimately if you want to optimize the business model you want to cut off everything unlucrative. So I guess no more high end gear, less wheels, less pedals, less of everything. Quoting Matthew McConaughey: “You gotta pump those numbers up, those are rookie numbers.”
StaRUG does not necessarily include personnel cuts, it's just a way extending the time a Company gets to work out a financial escape plan, if another Company comes in they will, of course, do an analysis on what's going on, but anything could happen from there, from shutting it down completely to expansion, totally situationally dependant and know one knows what Corsairs plan is at this stage.
@@SaintKimbo Of course it does include personell, infrastructure and product cuts. What would be the point of StaRUG process (stabilizing and restructuring is basically in its name) process if you keep the company going as is? The boards sole purpose is to represent the interest of the companies shareholders. If they decline existing financing, ransack their whole shareholder base and then keep going as is, they will get sued into oblivion.
I bought a csl dd and 320 v2 wheel on sunday with overnight shipping. I got all but the table clamp on tuesday. The clamp came wednesday. That was a fedex screw up because the packages were moving together until the delivery. The base had qr1 and the wheel came with qr1 lite. I switched them both to qr2. Everything I bought was in stock saying "Ships within 4-7 days". They apparently were not lying when they said they could start hitting those times starting this week. Thomas Jackermeier took fanatec from zero to below zero while walking away rich. It doesn't matter if there was a huge "gain" in between. Why pretend the CEO had nothing to do with this failure? Shareholders all lose, but Jackermeier is still ahead. The people who got rich off driving a company into the ground are the people that should be blamed.
Fingers are crossed this leads to a fix for the broken customer service system. I got my order 2 months ago, but my pedals didn't work... Still waiting to hear back from Fanatec
Hi, mate! It´s nice to see that you are starting to raise the right questions: Why did the CFO state in February that the balances look good and the outlook for 2024 is positive? And just a few weeks later bankrupcy was imminent. This is one of the most critical questions. He must already have had a really deep look into the numbers in February, since he had been there since November, already. There had been this sudden shift in his strategy in April. The question is why.
Bring all of the valued employee’s into a meeting and give them a positive outlook on their future at Fanatec. Last thing we would want is all of the core talent to leave and change what made the company successful.
@@Kireth I don't know how anyone could take Thomas seriously at this stage. The 'Black Friday' mess was, I believe, was almost an act of fraud. It's impossible to believe that a Company, any Company would go into a Black Friday sale without having a good knowledge of stock levels, so to try and tell people that their computers acted up and kept on taking sales that were way over what they had available is suspect to say the least. Even if that was true, there's no way the people overseeing things or personal at the warehouse level wouldn't have been able to pick that up very quickly. Even if it was true all they had to do was send out a 'sorry sold out' notice to all those orders that exceeded the stock levels, that could have been sorted in a week or so. More likely, they knew what was going on, already being in a bit of a financial pinch, all that lovely cash rolling in was too much to resist, so they thought they'll take it, and work it out later.
TJ made a lot of bad decisions. It's just ridiculous money burning sponsoring Motorsport like Fanatec did. Moza is just paying Jimmy Broadbent, who get more viewers than 99% of real racing events. Also this, unfortunately not only drunken idea, to make sim racing wheels compatible with real race cars is just nuts. The final result is not price competitive, obviously, and they can't even produce enough units despite probably only selling a few. Not offering such a wheel in the mid price sector is another fail, but this Motorsport sponsoring and R&D with the Bentley and M4 wheel was probably enough idiocy to paint the numbers red.
@@Leynad778 While I agree Fanatec Sponsor/advertise too much and don’t have their priorities in order. I would disagree that Moza gets more eyes from JB sponsored videos. Fanatec name is plastered all over the place. Even In Jimmy’s new car. Anything else about what went wrong internally is pure speculation at this point. Hopefully Corsair will do the right thing to keep that sinking ship a float.
Kireth, I've been saving for months,am only able to buy DD pro or extreme once, (I'm not rich,food&bills 1st)never used a DD wheel,using t248 and can't complain I'm on console so GT7 and ACC for me,all this uncertainty is putting me off Fanatec, Logitech G Pro is getting my attention now but can't decide, hopefully all this Fanatec stuff gets properly sorted this year or I might just go Logitech in the end,who ever ends up in charge at Fanatec, PLEASE SORT IT OUT!!! loads more people having same worries as me I bet! great video as always Kireth,keep the info coming,cheers buddy 👍👍👍
This seems to be straight forward as far as hardware. They need a three tier system that caters from entry level up to elite. Cheap, middle, expensive. Call the tiers whatever you want. But they should all be equiped with a solid quick release on each tier period, as standard. Make more wheels, im pretty sure people will buy more wheels than anything else. Especially if they look sick! The rest is beyond us but to point out the obvious. Make products that you can get to the customers and if not right away have actual ETA's that are relayed and actually met with the consumer and bam! Cash flow.
I’m hesitating.. I had in plan to buy wheel base, rim and pedals from Fanatec. But is it a good time to purchase from them? Or should we wait? How long does it take for Corsair to settle in? I feel I need some advice on this. 🙏🏻
If Fanatec products are made available to buy in the Abruzzi shop I’ll be one happy Fanatec customer. They do also need to up their prices, especially on the entry level stuff.
would i be able to recieve some stuff from them if ill order them now or you wont risk it because my pedals broke and i need a replacement i wanted fanatec but the situation is weird
*Seeking repair advice* About three weeks ago the load cell in my csl v3 pedals broke (as they do). I contacted fanatec support that day since that seems to be the only way to get a replacement part from them, and I haven't heard from them since. I am wondering if anyone here knows of a reputable place where I can buy a replacement load cell? Any leads would be a huge help.
I've emailed several times, 3 months now, DD Extreme and pedals ordered, 1600 euros. Unit won't power up, won't update,..only advise I can give you is don't hold yer breath 🥵🥵🥵
@grim_reaper1601 they actually got back to me this morning with a replacement option. Maybe they are watching what people say under these types of videos 👀 and maybe you'll be helped soon. 🤞🏽 Best of luck
I think this is very good for new and existing customers, we will get continued support on our products and I think Corsair is able to develop and ship great Fanatec products. As long as they keep the right people on board and fix the customer service issues, I think this is a big win. It is very unfortunate for the share holders, but that's the risk they take. I don't think it's fair that they will lose their shares/money they invested but from a customers view this is not important. The people who built the brand are also in one way or another the cause of the bankruptcy of the company. This is the reality of building a business, it takes risks and money. And if you make mistakes, this can happen.
For all those of us who have bought Fanatec products, I hope that Corsair does better and continues the Fanatec Brand name. I fellow bad for Thomas Jackermeier. Getting the boot after you started the company.
Take care of the customer first. Next get the product line and description clarified so that people have a clue as to what is an entry level product and what is higher end.Then find a retailer to stock your products with a chance for potential customers to hold and try the equipment.
I have been following your last videos about fanatec. I wanted to wait for the next black friday to buy my whole setup, but I am scared to not get any better opportunity (and maybe worse) than today. If I buy my fanatec products today, do you see any bad scenario? Thank you for your job.
I want TJ to be fairly compensated for his shares! Yes, things went bad, but he did build a company that makes good products at fairly reasonable prices. My dad bought us a dd pro and we absolutely love it, just needs some software updates and i want to see better customer service, warranty fixes for those who do have a problem, and more top end products at reasonable prices, NOT make cheap mass market cheaply made gear at Walmart 🤪😢😤
good question what happens to the quality of the product will it get better or worse? I think that s important paying 700 or 800 quid on a sim product. If corsair are spending 70m something as got to give often than not the quality changes
If Corsair leverages Econoies of scale, they can make up for the Cost of sale increase associated with dealing with retailers. A "premium product" or at least from what i've interpreted from their marketeting is what Fanatec were aiming for. In this case It is crucial to deliver on customer service. Overall i think that Corsair will integrate this Lineup, to their ecosystem, to make it coherent. Like Logitech kinda... One of their main Competitors even before Sim Racing. As a conclusion i think it will make the market more competitive, and better for the consumer.
Hoping they will start selling it here in Asia! Love Moza, and it's regional reach, but would love to get a CSL DD Pro or + for Playstation compatibility!
Being able to try the products out at retail stores is a huge plus. For example, im interested in ps vr, but you cant try it anywhere in the UK. So i havent bothered. I dont want to invest and then get sick.
you will get used to it. Took me a month to get rid of the nausea. Some tips are, have a fan pointed at your face, once you start to feel bad - stop and take a 20 min break and just enjoy the scenery. It looks so real now that I stopped playing flat screen games.
Sorry... but do we really think there is an issue with 'picking up boxes off a shelf and getting ups to pick them up...? One would be an idiot to assume this was the issue... Stuff is on shelf OR NOT...!!! I would argue the products are non existent at the time of purchase... I can order anything from anywhere in the world and it can be here 'next day'... I think Fanatec don't have the products on the shelf, staff to pick and pack, or they can't afford to pay UPS to collect... And they want to treat the customers as if they are dumb... Oh no emails are too hard to keep up with...
its probably the best result we couldve asked for. the last thing we needed was someone taking it over who only cared about profits like a hedge fund. hopefully they keep the brand. 🍎🍎
🍎 I'm excited for how this moves forward. I had a painful buying experience with fanatec but I'm glad I stuck with it. It was bad enough that I've been putting off buying another rim because I don't want that experience again. The product is excellent and I've had nothing but good experiences with corsair aswell so with fanatec quality and corsair customer service I'm excited about this along with the possibility of buying in the UK being much easier in the future. Great reporting. Open honest and still factual and engaging. Being a fellow sim racer in the UK, I salute you sir
for the point of fanatec potentaly slimming down the line: fanatec is amazing because of the freedom you have with the steering wheels. imo the more the better because it covers a whole area different types of motorsports and personalities and preferences. if you want a nascar wheel then you can if you want yout formula wheel with lether grips instead of suade then you have the option ir if you want a custom wheel you have then you can use it. yk what im sayin. they just need better guides to what you need and what does what exactly. imo
One more thing when a company is overwhelmed by customer service problems that end of itself says a lot and you don't need to be an Einstein to figure it out
So, I feel like Fanatec is a middle ground sim supplier, between Logitech/Thrustmaster and Moza/Simagic/Simucube/etc. I feel like that is a difficult position to be in, because somebody like myself, who has a used Thrustmaster T300RS, my next step would be stepping up higher than Fanatec, even more so after the last year. And as much as Corsair will help Fanatec, but I also question how prepared Corsair is on taking on the extra workload of Fanatec's business (marketing and customer service).
Maybe once Corsair own Fanatec they'll start shipping Fanatec products to New Zealand... (currently they don't, only to Australia and they don't say why).
This appears to be the best outcome for the company and for customers. Hopefully the impact on current staff and suppliers will be minimal, if not positive. I do feel for the smaller share holders, in the harsh light of day, they've been let down by TJ - it seems he realised his errors too late, and they've paid the price for their misplaced faith. 🍎
Of course they can be great and it will be great. Look how great they did with other companies. Can I just say I was a share older of Gm before the government bailed them out and I lost all my shares when that happened….lets also not forget TJ got himself into this situation he didn’t pay back his loans and customer service is bad and people still not getting their packages still. He got himself here not sure I feel bad for him at this point. Should have been better at paying back ur loans.
I'll tell you it sucked to but the CSL DD Pro 8nm only to see the 12nm DD suddenly released 5 months later. Sure the 8 nm is better than a T-300 belt driven base but after just a little bit I can see the 12-18 nm is the sweet spot where you get all the feedback possable.
Dropping the DD+ with 15nm just a few weeks after and then announcing the DD Extreme with the Gran Turismo rim a few months later ……. was annoying as I’d bought the 8nm DD-GT as I needed PS5 compatibility as well as PC. What really pulled the rug out from Fanatec was all the new DD products with QR2 were all manufactured simultaneously but due to Sony licensing they couldn’t announce the DD+ or Extreme bundle
I know you’ve quashed the idea of espionage before but Fanatec was clearly vulnerable. Just saying….A CEO needs absolute trust in the 2 most critical roles beneath them and this whole thing has been fishy for a long minute.
Some people certainly harmed the company with poor decision making. How much did they pay for the "Fanatec GT World Challenge" or the R&D for the Bentley wheel, for example. This M4 BMW wheel should cost 500, not 1500. Those two guys formerly below TJ seems suspicious, but TJ certainly pushed the wrong buttons and got blinded by Motorsport and cheap loans. Moza probably gained more by paying Jimmy Broadbent to use their stuff.
There is potential with corsair for this to be good, as in being able to get stuff more easily, but also hoping nothing is tied to icue because I hate icue
I just don't understand why Fanatec spent so much partnering with Sony, Gran Turismo, and advertising everywhere if they were struggling internally and financially.
I think this move has potential in the short term, but I do not believe it will be great for the long term. As it will be great to infuse Fanatec with capital, but with that Corsair will look to make Fanatec profitable asap. This will lead to consolidation/ layoffs which will lead to very talented people to go to other places. I believe this move will further shrink their market share and continue to bolster companies like Moza’s charge to the top.
more than likely Corsair will find ways to save money in other areas, like having better distribution, supply chain and customer support/sales etc so not like they have to cut jobs, rather they can just improve their cost structure.
Unlikely in the short term. StaRUG means suppliers could lose claim on current and upcoming deliviers. It might as well lead to Fanatec losing some of their most important suppliers at all. My guess is it will get a lot worse before it "might" get better. Restructuring might lead to less new products or portfolio slimming. Restructuring/cutting the personell side might also lead to a worse situation depending on how its handled.
@@steirerblut_ when all said and done I meant. Probably a year of struggle I guess. Hopefully they can keep up what is currently on offer with too much trouble
Thomas had money to inject into the business which seem to be a no brainer. Why are they only dealing with corsair? I thought Directors were supposed to act in the interest of the shareholder, not the banks?
lower earnings and revenues have not been back solidly in growth. The hangover after COVID meant that there was less demand and growth in yearly numbers and as they are a growth company wallstreet didn't like that they had very small growth (which compared to other competitors was actually really good, many were negative revenue growth)
Something is off about this takeover. I'm not sure whether this is good for Fanatec customers and ecosystem. German courts should look at this case very carefully!
Corsair has some nice stuff, but their ICue software sucks - on my laptop installed it because I have a wireless Corsair mouse, always had unwanted double clicks, uninstalled the ICue software, everything works fine, then I got a wireless headset from Corsair and with the ICue software running the Prime music app doesn’t work anymore on my desktop and other programs also had issues, got rid of the ICue software everything works fine again - hope they do a better job when it comes to updates for Fanatec products… P.s. I fear Corsair will mainly focus on the lower price stuff, we will see how much they will cut down the product line…
I think this is far from finalized, from what i can read its not all done and signed yet. Maybe TJ will sue the board i dont know, the starug is pretty much legal crime. But corsair taking it over shouldn't be that bad, atleast its long term and a good gaming company.
I would like you to address some thing and that is the problem with Sony certifying the new fan tech DD extra or pro or whatever it is why are they having issues with Sony after the CSL elite it seem like Sony was averse to licensing their products they were only compatible not certified during your interview they still had not had Sony's certification and does anybody really competing in the same racing market in a position to go without Sony and Xbox I know a lot of PC racers but the majority of people I race with are on the PlayStation five playing GT7 or ACC?
Do not count on it corsair is a middle agent Corsair yes is buying them like I predicted over 2 months ago , but corsair will be reselling them to another big company that's already involved with sim equipment
As long as the keep the iCue devs away from the Fanatec software then it will be okay as corsair makes such garbage software I stoped buying products from them but they always make decent hardware just bad software.
Glad shareholders go put empty. Going to stock market was a huge mistske. There was zero reason for a company that small & specialized to gain more profit every year to make shareholders happy. And it was impossible too. Conzept of stock market should be illegal anyway.
Another good video on this topic... Can we all stop pretending that Fanatec isn't one of the biggest names in sim racing... can we stop pretending that Fanatec isnt the only name you see when playing F1... Can we stop pretending they didn't just sign a new deal with F1... We can say whatever we want, Fanatec have lost the sim racers now... Still have not recieved my bundle, still no response to emails, still diverting phone calls... my patients with Fanatec is running very thin, ordered 7th April and still waiting with an order that is 'handed to warehouse' for over a week... I'm not like most and will not be waiting around for this bullshit... if I get no response or movement by friday i will be cancelling my order... Also i will be doing a social media campagain where i abuse the fanatec name online, as it seems we only care about what we look like online...
Improve customer service and figure out ways to manufacture products at a lower cost thus making it profitable for them and Fanatec to continue to make leading products.
Unfortunately no matter how much debt Corsair repays simucube will always be superior. Only thing I don't like about them is their wheel designs. They don't have a good fully round wheel.
What's the first thing you want Corsair to do with Fanatec? 👇👇
Fix the Fanatec website! The first time I went to buy from them everything was so janky, it made me question if the site was legitimate.
I race in the dark, so more range of illuminated buttons, I have a bit of Corsair products, and been 100% satisfied so far
stop selling merchandise they don't have on hand
I really hope they restore reliability and customer service to the brand. As as a new and aspiring sim racer I’m really interested in fanatec products but have held off for the last 6/8 months as of the rumours of their poor customer service
fire the marketing who spend lots of money to put their name on real racing supporter, and manage, finance
Just keep product dev, customer support let Corsair do it
I'm most looking forward to buy fanatec gear from my local electronics shop.
I'll have a pack of AAA batteries and a CSL DD+ please
@@Kireth that'll be one massive pack of AAA's to power the DD+ 😅
@@Kirethwe can see Corsair product and booth in Taiwan
Nah I think there will be a Abo where you can get 1000 AAA Batteries for just 1200$ A month XD
I agree, bought the gt3 wheel a few weeks ago, took 4 weeks to come and then all the faf with import fee’s etc… although it did work out cheaper than buying a second hand one off ebay 🤣
This was a well structured and well balanced video with a lot of important points and considerations raised.
w
The thing with Corsair is that they can afford to do the right thing for the customer for long term loyalty, so its a short term cost that often leads to long term loyalty
just got into sim racing in the last 6 months. went with a full simagic setup and couldnt be happier.
Just like many others. When u look at used marketplaces its all fanatec 😂
I literally just bought two shares of Corsair, im betting that thing finna blow up
i just bought the gt dd pro bundle 2 days ago do you think that i would still get my order
Have you got it yet?
Yes i have receved it and although fanatec is going through this stuff i just absolutly love it.
One thing which does not get mentioned is that Fanatec is not a global supplier. Outside Europe and North America, only Japan and Australia can receive deliveries. When Asia is a huge gaming market, it’s deliberately limiting global market share. As a direct-to-consumer company, that’s suicidal.
You are absolutely right about Fanatecs confusing naming process.
I am looking to upgrade to direct drive and trying to work out what's what in Fanatec's line up is a challenge.
I look at Moza and they've got the nm on the name, makes it easy, R9, R12, etc., Fanatec, CSL, DD. DD+ ??????
Corsair will vastly improve Fanatec's logistics and open them up to their distribution networks. They are pros at it.
The thing I worry about is. Is Fanatec going to be around for the long haul? I currently own a GT DD Pro (8NM) and want to upgrade to the CS DD+ in the very near future. Also, will this hostile take over cause their prices to go up?🤔
They got Fanatec to earn money. Corsair is generally poor value for money so I think the prices go up
Personally I just want some indicator stalks from Fanatec and a truck rim of 450mm (or at least 400mm like Moza's offering). I think that's an area of the market they just left laying on the table.
I agree, I didn't even give it a thought until Moza came out with there wheel. ATS is huge on YT so I would assume the wheel would be a decent seller.
Big market in Germany too. No brainer.
@@Kireth Yup, I am from the Netherlands personally. Trucking is big here too.
Going by SCS their partnership succes maybe getting a real DAF, Volvo or Scania to get reworked to a Fanatec ecosystem compatible wheel and stalks... no brainer! Besides, I am willing to bet the brands would jump on the opportunity.
I did some truck racing yesterday... so much fun...
Order the clubsport 320 wheel bundle with APM endurance module and podium hub on the 17th April. Order is still somehow processing 🤦🏽♂️it was pre order for 29th April due to qr2. Now the podium hub is out of stock till June 11th. Email sent asking if that means I’m waiting till then too even though it was in stock when I ordered. Nothing back yet. £700 on wheel that I’ll not see for 2 months
Thank you for all the helpful videos.
You have been the only one who has covered this subject extensively as you have been seen.
Keep up the good work.
🍎💪
Love the content but I think you're underestimating the ease of retail as potential here.
1. The impact on margins (which is alright extremely tight given the competition and the fact that Black Friday deals were loss leaders for Fanatec and that they weren't making money. Too many entrants flooded the market. We realistically don't need 5 - 8 makers of pedals.)
2. Sim driving equipment is not ideal for retail.
a) Extremely niche (even if growing) means low demand and really slow inventory turnover.
b) Bulky and expensive from an inventory perspective increasing carry costs of holding inventory
c) Existing competitive relationships: Logitech will have something to say about this if Best Buy wants to stock this
d) Lack of direct connection with the audience
Customer service is a solvable problem. Crushing your margins by 40% on suite of products that lose money every year is not.
Anyways... good content.
What logo is going to be on Fanatec products when Corsair takes over.
I agree with most points raised. I work in (IT) servicemanagement myself and it's amazing to see how it's just a blind spot to so many people (especially those in charge). The thought is often that proper customer service is just costing the company money. IMO a very short sighted view and the consequences can be dire, as you see here.
I also agree with your last sentement about Jackermeier himself. It takes a lot of vision, courage, and frankly hard work to take the company from zero to where it is today and that demands a lot of respect. Having said that, I also think the man is arrogant. It takes a different kind of leader to take the company out of that startup phase into the next and it's very common to change leadership at that point. I think Jackermeier was just too arrogant to do that, stubbornly ran the company like he used to (because it's worked so far, right?) and now has to deal with the consequences.
Personally, I feel like he could see this coming, especially living in a country with these controversial "starug" laws, and really only has himself to blame. Maybe it's sad for him but look at it this way, if he would've continued as CEO it's more than likely a lot of people would've lost their jobs. And dare I say those people were possibly more instrumental in Fanatec's succes than Jackermeier..
I've had a few issues with corsair products in the past but I sure do love my fanatec gear so I have high hopes for the future of fanatec. It sucks people still haven't got there black Friday from 2023. I hope that's the main priority for fanatec
Someone's rocking the Olympiakos shirt!
Yo 🙌🙌🙌🙌
distribution and logistics were single-handedly the biggest crutch right, with secondary being customer service? Corsair being able to not only ship better, but be present worldwide without hindrance from one central HQ location, can potentially boost the brand into sky-high proportions. I get TJ wanting to do this himself, and pride being a possible factor, but it's undeniable that Corsair is a strong force that can significantly benefit their operation. Elgato has German roots, working out so far, obviously joking that this must also go the same way, but who knows?
Corsair biggest contribution would be to distribution. We need to be able to order, and receive in a timely fashion. Or even better, have it stocked on shelves.
even with the support and receiving wrong parts...one has to ask what the work environment was like for the employees to just generally don't care about doing their job. I hope if Corsair keeps them on, they whip themselves into shape
I think most important thing would being able to have someone to talk about your product with after purchase. Some support... instead of an automated message that means nothing.
If fanatec starts to sell in retail than I will probably get one, after all only companies that dont belive in their products sell directly to customers from their website.
My guess is it will get a lot worse in the short term. StaRUG will include personell cuts which affect delivery and support reliability. Think of it this way: how will you handle your job tomorrow if 50% of your colleagues just went out of the door. This might include their suppliers losing claim on current or upcoming deliveries damaging their short-/midterm delivery pipeline. Maybe even losing some of their most reliable suppliers. Ultimately if you want to optimize the business model you want to cut off everything unlucrative. So I guess no more high end gear, less wheels, less pedals, less of everything.
Quoting Matthew McConaughey: “You gotta pump those numbers up, those are rookie numbers.”
StaRUG does not necessarily include personnel cuts, it's just a way extending the time a Company gets to work out a financial escape plan, if another Company comes in they will, of course, do an analysis on what's going on, but anything could happen from there, from shutting it down completely to expansion, totally situationally dependant and know one knows what Corsairs plan is at this stage.
@@SaintKimbo Of course it does include personell, infrastructure and product cuts. What would be the point of StaRUG process (stabilizing and restructuring is basically in its name) process if you keep the company going as is?
The boards sole purpose is to represent the interest of the companies shareholders. If they decline existing financing, ransack their whole shareholder base and then keep going as is, they will get sued into oblivion.
I bought a csl dd and 320 v2 wheel on sunday with overnight shipping. I got all but the table clamp on tuesday. The clamp came wednesday. That was a fedex screw up because the packages were moving together until the delivery.
The base had qr1 and the wheel came with qr1 lite. I switched them both to qr2. Everything I bought was in stock saying "Ships within 4-7 days". They apparently were not lying when they said they could start hitting those times starting this week.
Thomas Jackermeier took fanatec from zero to below zero while walking away rich. It doesn't matter if there was a huge "gain" in between. Why pretend the CEO had nothing to do with this failure? Shareholders all lose, but Jackermeier is still ahead. The people who got rich off driving a company into the ground are the people that should be blamed.
It’s strange. I placed an order for csl DD bundle in April and received it the same week. It seems the Black Friday orders are the ones that suffered.
Fingers are crossed this leads to a fix for the broken customer service system. I got my order 2 months ago, but my pedals didn't work... Still waiting to hear back from Fanatec
Hi, mate! It´s nice to see that you are starting to raise the right questions: Why did the CFO state in February that the balances look good and the outlook for 2024 is positive? And just a few weeks later bankrupcy was imminent. This is one of the most critical questions. He must already have had a really deep look into the numbers in February, since he had been there since November, already. There had been this sudden shift in his strategy in April. The question is why.
Bring all of the valued employee’s into a meeting and give them a positive outlook on their future at Fanatec. Last thing we would want is all of the core talent to leave and change what made the company successful.
What about Thomas?
@@KirethI doubt he will feel like being part of the Company now. Lawsuits will probably follow and that would be a conflict of interest.
@@Kireth
I don't know how anyone could take Thomas seriously at this stage.
The 'Black Friday' mess was, I believe, was almost an act of fraud.
It's impossible to believe that a Company, any Company would go into a Black Friday sale without having a good knowledge of stock levels, so to try and tell people that their computers acted up and kept on taking sales that were way over what they had available is suspect to say the least.
Even if that was true, there's no way the people overseeing things or personal at the warehouse level wouldn't have been able to pick that up very quickly.
Even if it was true all they had to do was send out a 'sorry sold out' notice to all those orders that exceeded the stock levels, that could have been sorted in a week or so.
More likely, they knew what was going on, already being in a bit of a financial pinch, all that lovely cash rolling in was too much to resist, so they thought they'll take it, and work it out later.
TJ made a lot of bad decisions. It's just ridiculous money burning sponsoring Motorsport like Fanatec did. Moza is just paying Jimmy Broadbent, who get more viewers than 99% of real racing events. Also this, unfortunately not only drunken idea, to make sim racing wheels compatible with real race cars is just nuts. The final result is not price competitive, obviously, and they can't even produce enough units despite probably only selling a few. Not offering such a wheel in the mid price sector is another fail, but this Motorsport sponsoring and R&D with the Bentley and M4 wheel was probably enough idiocy to paint the numbers red.
@@Leynad778 While I agree Fanatec Sponsor/advertise too much and don’t have their priorities in order. I would disagree that Moza gets more eyes from JB sponsored videos. Fanatec name is plastered all over the place. Even In Jimmy’s new car. Anything else about what went wrong internally is pure speculation at this point. Hopefully Corsair will do the right thing to keep that sinking ship a float.
Kireth, I've been saving for months,am only able to buy DD pro or extreme once, (I'm not rich,food&bills 1st)never used a DD wheel,using t248 and can't complain I'm on console so GT7 and ACC for me,all this uncertainty is putting me off Fanatec, Logitech G Pro is getting my attention now but can't decide, hopefully all this Fanatec stuff gets properly sorted this year or I might just go Logitech in the end,who ever ends up in charge at Fanatec, PLEASE SORT IT OUT!!! loads more people having same worries as me I bet! great video as always Kireth,keep the info coming,cheers buddy 👍👍👍
Get the dd compared to Logitech its way better
@@Pizzarolles_. ye Cheers buddy, hopefully when I order later this year Fanatec will be all sorted out, that's my preferred supplier to buy from 👍👍👍
@@andrewgoldsmith9764 i Wish you Luck Dude i really Hope fanatec will get better in the future
This seems to be straight forward as far as hardware. They need a three tier system that caters from entry level up to elite. Cheap, middle, expensive. Call the tiers whatever you want. But they should all be equiped with a solid quick release on each tier period, as standard. Make more wheels, im pretty sure people will buy more wheels than anything else. Especially if they look sick!
The rest is beyond us but to point out the obvious. Make products that you can get to the customers and if not right away have actual ETA's that are relayed and actually met with the consumer and bam! Cash flow.
I’m hesitating.. I had in plan to buy wheel base, rim and pedals from Fanatec. But is it a good time to purchase from them? Or should we wait? How long does it take for Corsair to settle in? I feel I need some advice on this. 🙏🏻
If Fanatec products are made available to buy in the Abruzzi shop I’ll be one happy Fanatec customer. They do also need to up their prices, especially on the entry level stuff.
Anyone notice Fanatec's FB status yesterday saying something along the lines of "we need to talk..."? They took it down moments later.
would i be able to recieve some stuff from them if ill order them now or you wont risk it because my pedals broke and i need a replacement i wanted fanatec but the situation is weird
*Seeking repair advice* About three weeks ago the load cell in my csl v3 pedals broke (as they do). I contacted fanatec support that day since that seems to be the only way to get a replacement part from them, and I haven't heard from them since. I am wondering if anyone here knows of a reputable place where I can buy a replacement load cell? Any leads would be a huge help.
I've emailed several times, 3 months now, DD Extreme and pedals ordered, 1600 euros. Unit won't power up, won't update,..only advise I can give you is don't hold yer breath 🥵🥵🥵
@grim_reaper1601 they actually got back to me this morning with a replacement option. Maybe they are watching what people say under these types of videos 👀 and maybe you'll be helped soon. 🤞🏽 Best of luck
I think this is very good for new and existing customers, we will get continued support on our products and I think Corsair is able to develop and ship great Fanatec products. As long as they keep the right people on board and fix the customer service issues, I think this is a big win.
It is very unfortunate for the share holders, but that's the risk they take. I don't think it's fair that they will lose their shares/money they invested but from a customers view this is not important. The people who built the brand are also in one way or another the cause of the bankruptcy of the company. This is the reality of building a business, it takes risks and money. And if you make mistakes, this can happen.
For all those of us who have bought Fanatec products, I hope that Corsair does better and continues the Fanatec Brand name. I fellow bad for Thomas Jackermeier. Getting the boot after you started the company.
Take care of the customer first. Next get the product line and description clarified so that people have a clue as to what is an entry level product and what is higher end.Then find a retailer to stock your products with a chance for potential customers to hold and try the equipment.
I have been following your last videos about fanatec. I wanted to wait for the next black friday to buy my whole setup, but I am scared to not get any better opportunity (and maybe worse) than today. If I buy my fanatec products today, do you see any bad scenario?
Thank you for your job.
I wont be suprised till see vid from you “i got invited by corsair to talk about possible changes”
I want TJ to be fairly compensated for his shares! Yes, things went bad, but he did build a company that makes good products at fairly reasonable prices. My dad bought us a dd pro and we absolutely love it, just needs some software updates and i want to see better customer service, warranty fixes for those who do have a problem, and more top end products at reasonable prices, NOT make cheap mass market cheaply made gear at Walmart 🤪😢😤
good question what happens to the quality of the product will it get better or worse? I think that s important paying 700 or 800 quid on a sim product. If corsair are spending 70m something as got to give often than not the quality changes
🍎🍏 thanks for covering this! Exciting news and times coming for fanatec and fanatec users! 🙏🏾🔥💪🏿
If Corsair leverages Econoies of scale, they can make up for the Cost of sale increase associated with dealing with retailers. A "premium product" or at least from what i've interpreted from their marketeting is what Fanatec were aiming for. In this case It is crucial to deliver on customer service. Overall i think that Corsair will integrate this Lineup, to their ecosystem, to make it coherent. Like Logitech kinda... One of their main Competitors even before Sim Racing. As a conclusion i think it will make the market more competitive, and better for the consumer.
Hoping they will start selling it here in Asia! Love Moza, and it's regional reach, but would love to get a CSL DD Pro or + for Playstation compatibility!
Being able to try the products out at retail stores is a huge plus. For example, im interested in ps vr, but you cant try it anywhere in the UK. So i havent bothered. I dont want to invest and then get sick.
you will get used to it. Took me a month to get rid of the nausea. Some tips are, have a fan pointed at your face, once you start to feel bad - stop and take a 20 min break and just enjoy the scenery. It looks so real now that I stopped playing flat screen games.
@@chrisdamitz-cc2zj thanks for the tips
Just fix the whole shippingtime problem
This is the big one!
Sorry... but do we really think there is an issue with 'picking up boxes off a shelf and getting ups to pick them up...? One would be an idiot to assume this was the issue...
Stuff is on shelf OR NOT...!!! I would argue the products are non existent at the time of purchase...
I can order anything from anywhere in the world and it can be here 'next day'... I think Fanatec don't have the products on the shelf, staff to pick and pack, or they can't afford to pay UPS to collect...
And they want to treat the customers as if they are dumb...
Oh no emails are too hard to keep up with...
As long as quality and pricing stays the same I'm fine. And please don't add RGB's
its probably the best result we couldve asked for. the last thing we needed was someone taking it over who only cared about profits like a hedge fund. hopefully they keep the brand. 🍎🍎
Deliver orders to customers who have been waiting far too long.
not gon lie, i ordered a new wheel and hub on sunday and it came yesterday with fedex ground.
@@carllosss1 yeah I've been fortunate also.
@carllosss1 same here, got all the stuff within 3 days when I ordered the dd plus a couple months back.
Black Friday was a disaster to be honest..
Are you taking the piss... or just jesting... either way its not f!@#ing funny ..@@carllosss1
🍎 I'm excited for how this moves forward. I had a painful buying experience with fanatec but I'm glad I stuck with it. It was bad enough that I've been putting off buying another rim because I don't want that experience again. The product is excellent and I've had nothing but good experiences with corsair aswell so with fanatec quality and corsair customer service I'm excited about this along with the possibility of buying in the UK being much easier in the future. Great reporting. Open honest and still factual and engaging.
Being a fellow sim racer in the UK, I salute you sir
for the point of fanatec potentaly slimming down the line: fanatec is amazing because of the freedom you have with the steering wheels. imo the more the better because it covers a whole area different types of motorsports and personalities and preferences. if you want a nascar wheel then you can if you want yout formula wheel with lether grips instead of suade then you have the option ir if you want a custom wheel you have then you can use it. yk what im sayin. they just need better guides to what you need and what does what exactly. imo
One more thing when a company is overwhelmed by customer service problems that end of itself says a lot and you don't need to be an Einstein to figure it out
They need to focus on getting the price down to compete in this market .
So, I feel like Fanatec is a middle ground sim supplier, between Logitech/Thrustmaster and Moza/Simagic/Simucube/etc. I feel like that is a difficult position to be in, because somebody like myself, who has a used Thrustmaster T300RS, my next step would be stepping up higher than Fanatec, even more so after the last year.
And as much as Corsair will help Fanatec, but I also question how prepared Corsair is on taking on the extra workload of Fanatec's business (marketing and customer service).
Maybe once Corsair own Fanatec they'll start shipping Fanatec products to New Zealand... (currently they don't, only to Australia and they don't say why).
This appears to be the best outcome for the company and for customers. Hopefully the impact on current staff and suppliers will be minimal, if not positive.
I do feel for the smaller share holders, in the harsh light of day, they've been let down by TJ - it seems he realised his errors too late, and they've paid the price for their misplaced faith. 🍎
Of course they can be great and it will be great. Look how great they did with other companies. Can I just say I was a share older of Gm before the government bailed them out and I lost all my shares when that happened….lets also not forget TJ got himself into this situation he didn’t pay back his loans and customer service is bad and people still not getting their packages still. He got himself here not sure I feel bad for him at this point. Should have been better at paying back ur loans.
Fanatec needs to start making products not locked into their ecosystem. They would sell a lot more.
And fixing the button comparability issues on Xbox
I'll tell you it sucked to but the CSL DD Pro 8nm only to see the 12nm DD suddenly released 5 months later.
Sure the 8 nm is better than a T-300 belt driven base but after just a little bit I can see the 12-18 nm is the sweet spot where you get all the feedback possable.
Dropping the DD+ with 15nm just a few weeks after and then announcing the DD Extreme with the Gran Turismo rim a few months later ……. was annoying as I’d bought the 8nm DD-GT as I needed PS5 compatibility as well as PC.
What really pulled the rug out from Fanatec was all the new DD products with QR2 were all manufactured simultaneously but due to Sony licensing they couldn’t announce the DD+ or Extreme bundle
I placed an order last month and received it last month. I’d be worried about placing an order during this transition period though.
Was anyone else totally distracted by the reflection of the monitor light on Kireth’s glasses and missed a lot of his points?
I know you’ve quashed the idea of espionage before but Fanatec was clearly vulnerable.
Just saying….A CEO needs absolute trust in the 2 most critical roles beneath them and this whole thing has been fishy for a long minute.
Some people certainly harmed the company with poor decision making. How much did they pay for the "Fanatec GT World Challenge" or the R&D for the Bentley wheel, for example. This M4 BMW wheel should cost 500, not 1500. Those two guys formerly below TJ seems suspicious, but TJ certainly pushed the wrong buttons and got blinded by Motorsport and cheap loans. Moza probably gained more by paying Jimmy Broadbent to use their stuff.
There is potential with corsair for this to be good, as in being able to get stuff more easily, but also hoping nothing is tied to icue because I hate icue
Did you delete a video? I swear I saw another Fanatec video
Nope
I just don't understand why Fanatec spent so much partnering with Sony, Gran Turismo, and advertising everywhere if they were struggling internally and financially.
🍎
Having Fanatec in curry’s will save me a fortune on shipping 🍏
I think this move has potential in the short term, but I do not believe it will be great for the long term. As it will be great to infuse Fanatec with capital, but with that Corsair will look to make Fanatec profitable asap. This will lead to consolidation/ layoffs which will lead to very talented people to go to other places. I believe this move will further shrink their market share and continue to bolster companies like Moza’s charge to the top.
more than likely Corsair will find ways to save money in other areas, like having better distribution, supply chain and customer support/sales etc so not like they have to cut jobs, rather they can just improve their cost structure.
Hopefully stock levels will improve
Unlikely in the short term. StaRUG means suppliers could lose claim on current and upcoming deliviers. It might as well lead to Fanatec losing some of their most important suppliers at all. My guess is it will get a lot worse before it "might" get better. Restructuring might lead to less new products or portfolio slimming. Restructuring/cutting the personell side might also lead to a worse situation depending on how its handled.
@@steirerblut_ when all said and done I meant. Probably a year of struggle I guess. Hopefully they can keep up what is currently on offer with too much trouble
Thomas had money to inject into the business which seem to be a no brainer. Why are they only dealing with corsair? I thought Directors were supposed to act in the interest of the shareholder, not the banks?
They act for interest of management people…? Why not talk to some like Microsoft? Fanatec brand from real racing supporter worth
I'm hoping the range increases. I like the variety. Keep legacy please. Qr2 too expensive.
Kireth should be the new fanatec CEO.
🍎Why is Corsairs stock not getting a bump? Why has their stock been stagnant for the last year?
lower earnings and revenues have not been back solidly in growth. The hangover after COVID meant that there was less demand and growth in yearly numbers and as they are a growth company wallstreet didn't like that they had very small growth (which compared to other competitors was actually really good, many were negative revenue growth)
I just hope they keep the BMW GT3 wheel, I was going to buy it this year 😢
Amazon #1 in customer service make it happen!!!
Great video Kireth
There is a reason shark tank wants to go retail. Cmon.
Just know. They are hoping you give up on you return or customer service.
I hope there will be water cooled DDs with rgb and high airflow 😂
Something is off about this takeover. I'm not sure whether this is good for Fanatec customers and ecosystem. German courts should look at this case very carefully!
Corsair has some nice stuff, but their ICue software sucks - on my laptop installed it because I have a wireless Corsair mouse, always had unwanted double clicks, uninstalled the ICue software, everything works fine, then I got a wireless headset from Corsair and with the ICue software running the Prime music app doesn’t work anymore on my desktop and other programs also had issues, got rid of the ICue software everything works fine again - hope they do a better job when it comes to updates for Fanatec products…
P.s. I fear Corsair will mainly focus on the lower price stuff, we will see how much they will cut down the product line…
Corsair mostly focuses on mid to high end gear, very clear when you see they have higher ASPs than most competitors.
I think this is far from finalized, from what i can read its not all done and signed yet.
Maybe TJ will sue the board i dont know, the starug is pretty much legal crime.
But corsair taking it over shouldn't be that bad, atleast its long term and a good gaming company.
Can you try and get someone from logitech too talk about if they have any plans on new wheels etc and if so when?
I would like you to address some thing and that is the problem with Sony certifying the new fan tech DD extra or pro or whatever it is why are they having issues with Sony after the CSL elite it seem like Sony was averse to licensing their products they were only compatible not certified during your interview they still had not had Sony's certification and does anybody really competing in the same racing market in a position to go without Sony and Xbox I know a lot of PC racers but the majority of people I race with are on the PlayStation five playing GT7 or ACC?
Here for the T-Shirt! 🏀🔥
Do not count on it corsair is a middle agent Corsair yes is buying them like I predicted over 2 months ago , but corsair will be reselling them to another big company that's already involved with sim equipment
Customers didn't receive their orders cause the whole stock was in the hands of RUclipsrs. Watch their review while you wait.
As long as the keep the iCue devs away from the Fanatec software then it will be okay as corsair makes such garbage software I stoped buying products from them but they always make decent hardware just bad software.
Yes try before you buy
🍏 Green or red 🍎?
Everyone knows red! 🍎
RED ARMY 🍎🍎🍎🍎🍎🍎🍎
@@Kireth Like the football team? If so. Yes indeed. 😅😂
Glad shareholders go put empty.
Going to stock market was a huge mistske.
There was zero reason for a company that small & specialized to gain more profit every year to make shareholders happy. And it was impossible too. Conzept of stock market should be illegal anyway.
Another good video on this topic...
Can we all stop pretending that Fanatec isn't one of the biggest names in sim racing... can we stop pretending that Fanatec isnt the only name you see when playing F1...
Can we stop pretending they didn't just sign a new deal with F1...
We can say whatever we want, Fanatec have lost the sim racers now...
Still have not recieved my bundle, still no response to emails, still diverting phone calls... my patients with Fanatec is running very thin, ordered 7th April and still waiting with an order that is 'handed to warehouse' for over a week...
I'm not like most and will not be waiting around for this bullshit... if I get no response or movement by friday i will be cancelling my order...
Also i will be doing a social media campagain where i abuse the fanatec name online, as it seems we only care about what we look like online...
I've seen dudes in their front rooms get emails and phone calls to 'sell the story', yet CUSTOMERS are ignored...
Improve customer service and figure out ways to manufacture products at a lower cost thus making it profitable for them and Fanatec to continue to make leading products.
Unfortunately no matter how much debt Corsair repays simucube will always be superior. Only thing I don't like about them is their wheel designs. They don't have a good fully round wheel.
And simucubs price
Can they just stop pulling people off!!! 😂 I just want my order. Waiting 10 days now….
Interesting video, but sadly with too much repetition
The answer is: "If" Corsair buy's Fanatec it will become one of the plastic Walmart producers along with Thrustmaster and Logitech
You remind me of Ray Romano! 😃