MONTREAL. July 27, 1999 - Guillemot took a giant step today towards positioning itself as a leader of gaming accessories by acquiring Thrustmaster's hardware division. The $15 million transaction gives Guillemot's line of racing wheels, flight simulation tools and game controllers a new and definite edge.

"We have been longtime partners of Thrustmaster, distributing their products in France for the last five years on an exclusive basis. We value the company's commitment to excellence, its intuitive perception of gamers' needs. We feel that these qualities make Thrustmaster a perfect match for Guillemot, which operates with the same outstanding guidelines" - states Claude Guillemot, President of Guillemot.

Guillemot has purchased all assets of Thrustmaster's hardware division, including the brand name, patents and designs. This strategic move will give Guillemot a major share of the worldwide console and multimedia PC market, which is growing at an increasingly rapid rate.

"Guillemot has the financial strength and economies of scale necessary to continue to build on Thrustmaster's success in the game controller business. I am confident that we have placed the ThrustMaster name in very capable hands" - says Frank G. Hausmann, President and CEO of Thrustmaster Inc.

Guillemot will combine Thrustmaster's brand recognition and reputation for quality to its strong R&D team and the power of its worldwide distribution. This will allow Guillemot to renew Thrustmaster's product line with the same attention to realism and quality that ThrustMaster has built its name and reputation on.

Although Thrustmaster's lineup for the Q4 will remain unchanged, engineering teams are already hard at work on developing future projects within Thrustmaster's tradition.