It's Official: Printed Game Magazines Are Dying

Gaming Blend "If you don't like getting your gaming news, previews and reviews from hack websites, armchair warriors and everyman bloggers, you're in for a rude awakening: printed game magazines are dying."

[LX-General-Kaos]

Yea with the internet around who really cares about those. You can have all the info from those mags on a phone if you wanted to. Tech has moved on.

[NukaCola]

Yeah Magazines are great and I loved what they did in the last 20 years but this day and age, they suffer from two major issues.

They aren't as content worthy anymore: Mags back in the day had code sections, tons of fan letters, strategy guides, posters, contests, and more in a mag that was like 50 plus pages. Most mags now are skimpy and full of cheap previews and short articles.

Secondly is the internet. midnight/0001 hit and the newest reviews are out. And they pump out articles all the time. I rarely get anything fresh from a magazine anymore. I get most magazines reviews online a month before they actual periodical releases. Plus distribution on the internet is free and simple.

My biggest bit of sadness is the internet media is failing though. You hardly ever read some of the biggest BS flamebait in a magazine. The net is full of idiots who push off trash and call it news. I think about 90% of what we get is either a top 10, a blog, some comparison article about why something is or isnt a failure and those never ending 'doomed' articles. Its lose-lose here my friends.

[LX-General-Kaos]

You are right about all of that. Though I do remember the joy i got from receiving a new Ultra Game Player as a youngin. Looking at how great the 3D0 and sega saturn were going to be.

[MultiConsoleGamer]

I read all my magazines on a tablet anyway.

[shodan74]

It's sad, because I still enjoy picking up and reading a gaming mag cover to cover (and basically grew up with Official PlayStation Magazine and the like). But although paid-for print media is in decline anyway, the specific problem facing monthly gaming magazines is that they're often way behind the curve when it comes to news, reviews and previews. People have simply already read those online days or even weeks before the magazines hit the streets.

[vortis]

Seems like Game Informer still manages to throw a few curveballs our way, something the internet community has yet to do. Especially leading up to their big cover reveal of the X-Com remake.

[crazypicklemonkey]

magazines got nothing on me, i go to n4g for my latest gaming news! where the winners go! :/.....

[Fragger2k8]

More like.. "where the *whiners go!"

=P

[Knight_Cid]

yeah thats why game informer is doing so well and alot of other magazines can be found in print

[gillri]

I used to love going down the local newsagents as a 8/9 year old and getting the latest gaming magazine, it was about 6/7 years ago I kind of stopped,

I still get the odd magazine to remind me of being a kid but time has moved on

[Somebody]

I have been buying a localized PC Gamer magazine for 8 years and I was sad to see last December there's a pale maroon coloured star on the cover saying : FINAL ISSUE. There weren't enough local businesses who want to pay for the ad space to keep it afloat any longer. Now I'm stuck with the US and UK version which are extremely expensive. The US version is filled with too many ads that prevent it from being a worthwhile purchase.

But, I'm not really that sad. In fact I could say I was slightly relieved. I've using the internet to get the latest gaming news for the last two years. I have N4G and PC Gamer.com put as my top two favourite site on the Firefox toolbar.

[wiggles]

I used to subscribe to Game Informer but I can get the same articles on here except for maybe the opinion piece. There really is no reason for me to subscribe to a magazine when sites like N4G are around.

[bwazy]

Good, much less impact on the already dying environment.

[MasterD919]

Don't they have a website with content featured in their magazines anyways?

The whole thing seems pointless...Although when you buy a game or get a special edition or something, they should hand these out to entice people to subscribe. I don't see how they can stay afloat. The market is destroyed with the internet being an instant source of news.

[Inception]

Well it's obvious. Internet made monthly game magz not rellevant anymore. Internet = free + fast update anywhere / anytime you want VS monthly magz = $$$ + not uptodate. So i think printed game magz will take a route for digital game magz or turn into a gaming site...

[Zoron007]

So what are game informers sales numbers?

[Squatch83]

I buy 2 games mags a month, and have done for years.
GamesTM mag and Nintendo Official Mag.

Games TM is 180 pages, which aint that skimpy, and NOM is about 130-140 pages too.