Game Informer Magazine's Massive Reader Base

The Video Game Ombudsman, Kyle Orland, discusses Game Informer Magazine's two million strong subscriber base and their coverage in the Washington Post. GI is the house organ for Gamestop, making its subscriber base not much of a surprise. What is surprising is that their two million readers puts them within half a million subscribers of "O", the magazine stamped with the Oprah brand, and just outside the top 25 magazines in the country. From the post: "The rest of the article is a semi-interesting look at the life of the editor of the country's most popular game magazine, and I have to say... it sounds pretty awesome! Here's to a gaming mag cracking the circulation top 10 sooner than later."

Comments

The Game what???

[MBraynard]

I am a frequent reader of gaming magazines - I normally pick them up at the airport pre-flight and am subscribed (not that I remember subscribing) to a few of them. But I have _never_ seen or heard of Game Informer.

I really miss the one or two extremely funny gaming mags from back in the day - I can't recall their names, but there were two of them. PC Accelerator or something maybe and Insight or something like that? Really hope someone could remind me of their names.

Anyway, I'm really surprised no gaming mag is in the top 25 - about as surprised as I am htat I had never heard of the top gaming mag.

Re:The Game what???

[UWC]

PC Accelerator lasted a couple years. It was pretty much a raunchier PC Gamer. Same publisher and everything. I've always been a PC Gamer purist. I bought a couple of PC Accelerator issues, too, I think. Decent quality, actually, but seemed to be trying too hard to be edgy. Only other gaming magazines I've bought have been for demo discs. I'm not subscribed to anything now, but PC Gamer is the only gaming magazine to which I've ever subscribed. I remember the first issue I bought (quite a while before I ever subscribed) had a 3.25" floppy disk with a demo of The Incredible Machine 2. There was apparently a CD version of the magazine introduced I think just that month, but I hadn't yet taken the optical plunge. Reviews that issue I think included Wing Commander 3 and Warcraft 2.

As for Game Informer, I've heard of it, but I think mostly just when I've been in Gamestop locations. I've definitely never read a copy.

Re:It won't take long with the merger

[Ra5pu7in]

Depends on whether the customer base was that divided or not. I've shopped at both - mostly depending on which mall or shopping area I'm heading toward otherwise. If a large portion of their customer base is overlap, magazine subscriptions won't grow much. OTOH, if most gamers only shop at one or the other, then it may well grow.

==========

As to the Game Informer, I've gotten the GameStop card twice. I buy enough games in general, and used games specifically, to save a decent amount. The magazine is just extra fluff that cost me nothing with occasional tidbits of useful information (such as the expected release date on games). I don't care for most of their reviewers (too much effort put into trying to be funny) or the reviews they write. I do enjoy the pictures (while ignoring their juvenile captions).

I can easily understand the two million subscriber mark if they are counting everyone who has ever gotten one of the GameStop cards. If they only counted people who chose to subscribe and sent in a check ... well, then I'd actually be impressed.

Lets keep things in perspective here:

[GrandCow]

1. GI sucks. It reeks of developer inventives/kickbacks for favorable reviews.
2. A typical game purchase at GameStop goes like this: "Hey, you know if you get the frequent buyer card with your purchase you get a free subscription to Game Informer. Also you take the first issue home with you right now. BTW, there is a $5 off the frequent buyer card coupon in the issue right now, and we can use that towards your card purchase. With the 10% off discount and the coupon, your frequent buyer card is absolutely free."

Honestly, how many people are going to say no? I got my subscription, saw how crappy the magazine is, and barely spent 5 minutes on each months issue before I threw it away.

Give something away for free, and obviously people are going to take it. That doesn't mean the magazine is any good.