Future Publishing Loses $96 Million

Gamasutra covers a large reported loss by Future Publishing, the UK games-mag publisher of outlets like Edge, the three official UK magazines, and the U.S. Official Xbox Magazine. Their pre-tax losses totaled $95.6 million, while profits were down $39.8 million to $26.7 million. From the article: "Future CEO Stevie Spring commented, 'It is clear with hindsight that during the past two years, Future over-invested in acquisitions and under-invested in organic development. The consequences of this strategy are clearly evident in today's disappointing results ... We have taken a number of steps to strengthen the business. These actions have created significant cost savings which we are fully re-investing in the business.'" More regrettable signs of a a fading print industry.

Comments

Meh

[east coast]

Maybe I'm just getting old but the comings and goings of the game industry at large bore me anymore. I've thrown out my last six copies of PC Gamer without hardly turning a page.

Or maybe I've just become bored of their endless fanboi masturbatory habits. I can't speak for the magazines listed in the blurb but I don't see a real value to gaming mags that spend as much time patting themselves on the back as they do giving real content about games.

Re:Meh

[Threni]

Well, the Edge has always been a little breathless. It was expensive when it launched, and it's still expensive now. And for what? What does it provide that I can't get for free online? And the 'writers' on computer magazines always seem to think they're incredibly amusing, when generally it's a fourth rate, school-yard rehash of Viz magazine, Monty Python and Red Dwarf.

Re:Meh

[AKAImBatman]

I've thrown out my last six copies of PC Gamer without hardly turning a page.

PC Gamer died years ago when they merged with PC Accelerator. The PC Gaming industry went with them. :(

Re:Meh

[__aaclcg7560]

I ditched the current issue of PC Gamer as it had numerous ads, a section on cell phone games, and very little non-masturbatory content in between the covers. Just another cyclical trend. Once the new next gen consoles are established and someone creates a brilliant PC game that every developer and their mom will want to copy a million times, things should turn around for the magazines.

Re:Meh

[iocat]

Hey uh... they didn't merge with PCXL. PCXL folded and everyone got subscriptions to PC Gamer instead. I don't think *any* PCXL staff went to PCGamer following that folding, except for maybe Greg Vederman... but no, actually I think he started at PCGamer to begin with.

Re:Meh

[east coast]

Not to be an ass about it but "The Vede" kinda sucks any way you slice him.

Re:Meh

[bigbigbison]

The section on cell phone gaming WAS an ad, if I remember correctly. That doesn't mean it was any less crappy, but at least it means that it was the advertising department's fault it was there instead of the editorial department's.

Re:Meh

[__aaclcg7560]

I didn't realized that it was an ad until I saw the same section in Maximum PC. That annoyed me quite a bit.

Re:Meh

[iocat]

I like the Vede, but I really miss Bill Trotter, or The Colonel, or whatever his name is. I never play(ed) war games, but I loved reading about them.

Re:Meh

[Inverted Intellect]

You must be reading the US edition, which is indeed crap. In terms of geography, I live about halfway between the UK and US, yet the US edition costs a bit more. It also has half the width and much more advertising-per-content, as well as overmuch "eye-candy" (e.g., large explosions on the covers which don't serve to illustrate anything other than the reviewers' excitement).

The UK edition is great. Why anyone with a choice would ever read the US edition I will never understand.

Re:Meh

[iSeal]

You must be reading the US edition, which is indeed crap. In terms of geography, I live about halfway between the UK and US, yet the US edition costs a bit more. It also has half the width and much more advertising-per-content, as well as overmuch "eye-candy" (e.g., large explosions on the covers which don't serve to illustrate anything other than the reviewers' excitement).

The UK edition is great. Why anyone with a choice would ever read the US edition I will never understand.

Oh I couldn't agree more.

I used to really like PC Gamer (US). In fact, I have pretty much every mag from 1999 up until early 2006. I really lost interest when the magazine became more and more blatant hype about games that honestly didn't deserve it. It seemed like their covers was just "YET ANOTHER WW2 SHOOTER!", and their magazine filled with equally shallow reviews. I realised how all their reviews slowly became dominated by graphical prowess as opposed to... say... how fun the games actually were. Not that graphics aren't important, but it seems that PCG now uses it as their only criteria (barring a few notable exceptions...)

Maybe it was always like that, and its just that I wasn't 13 anymore. But then I discovered PCGamer UK, and it was like night and day. Yes, it was far more expensive ($20 vs. $10 an issue), but damn. The reviews were just so much more... balanced. They also covered games that weren't just in the top 10. Yes, PCG-US covered some indy titles - but not like this. And talk about good editorials too. PCG-US editorials were too pro-industry, seemingly misunderstanding the concerns of gamers.

The difference is simple. PCG-US is paid for by, in part, ads. Lots and lots of ads. PCG-UK is paid for by subscriptions and individual purchases of the magazine. Not gaming industry behemoths. So where do you think the loyalties of the editors lie? Things won't change any time soon, as that "paid by industry" financing is pretty much the standard with American publications. If PCG-US ditched the ads and jacked up the price, no doubt they'd lose out to their competitors (all one of them.)

PS. I do miss Trotter as well. In fact, I miss much of the old staff. Vede ain't that bad, I always liked his personal anecdotes. Despite my lost of interest in PCG-US, I can say that from the issues I've seen TheVede has done a great job pushing through a nice new design style. Still, the magazine just blows.

Re:Meh

[east coast]

It seemed like their covers was just "YET ANOTHER WW2 SHOOTER!"

While I see where you're going with this I will say that for a lot of year between HL1 and HL2 WW2 shooters were the only FPS (IMHO, of course) that got consistantly better. I'd take the original MOH over BF2 at this point because it was that good. Graphically? no, but it seemed like better game play to me. Again, IMHO.

Nothing personal, just business.

[gt_mattex]

More regrettable signs of a a fading print industry.

I'm not so sure I'm inclined to agree with that. While the print industry may be shrinking I think this has more to do with a less than stellar product and as the story indicates has much to do with poor business decisions.

I read the Official Xbox Magazine from time to time and it's quality in comparison with other publications is severely lacking. Of course that's just my opinion.

Re:Nothing personal, just business.

[twistedsymphony]

I'm a subscriber to the US version of OXM... I can attest to it being crap. To be perfectly honest the ONLY reason I subscribe is for the discs, and the rest of the magazine just collects dust. Basically the mags cost $10 on the newsstand and it's $17 for a year's subscription. They get the occasional disc exclusive that will prompt me to buy the mag and I figure as long as they get at least 2 of those a year It's cheaper to subscribe.

Though they do things a little backwards, you buy it in the store and you get a thin plastic snap case for the disc with a full color double sided insert the magazine pages are relatively thick and it's slightly larger then most other mags on the newsstand. All that goes out the window when you subscribe, you get sub newspaper thickness pages, the magazine dimensions are physically smaller the disc comes in a generic white paper sleeve and they've recently taken to gluing full fold out advertisements ON TOP OF the front cover... I'd like to shoot the marketing guru who came up with that idea, God help me if they ever put that on a publication I actually cared about. There journalists leave me with the impression that they aren't fully cognizant of the games they're playing nor intelligent enough to critically and accurately analize them. Beyond that the journalists talk down to the readers under pretenses that the they're somehow even less intelligent.

I will say that the UK's OXM is an entirely different story. I had the pleasure of being interviewed by them for an article on a project I had done. Being that I'm in the states it's difficult to get a hold of UK publications so they sent me a few copies. I was quite blown away with how well the magazine was done. The reviews in that issue really impressed me, I felt like they were reviewed by my peers as opposed to rabid monkeys. The quality of that magazine was quite impressive with nice thick glossy pages, enlarged physical dimension and a nice plastic case for the accompanying disc. The biggest problem the UK OXM has is that it's quite an expensive magazine... at least by my standards. IIRC a subscription to the UK OXM is close to eight times as high as the US OXM. It's a shame, I'd be more then happy to import that magazine (and for the actual magazine content) if it wasn't so pricey...

Re:Nothing personal, just business.

[Khuffie]

I agree. Magazines directed towards the UK market seem to just be plain better than US magazines. I'm surprised at the subscription issues you have with the official OXM in the states. When I was subscribed to Computer Arts magazine (which was kind of general, but more UK centric I guess), it was cheaper (by a bit) and you get benefits! For example, all magazine covers had no headlines on them if you subscribed, so you get the full beauty of the cover image without anything blocking it. And every once in a while they'd throw in a free tips book or mini-magazine depending on the issue. It was great.

Re:Nothing personal, just business.

[KliX]

I agree with you - I'm quite happy to read about things I'm interested in, in any format and I'm quite happy to pay for a magazine, but, I stopped buying or being interested in most of the computer mags I used to read when I found that they were just chock full of net derived material and press releases.

I don't need to pay extra for that - I can find it myself.

Good writers (what happened to them in the mid 90s? Not getting paid I expect) and some insight, rather than plain fact reporting is enough to get me to shell out a few quid a month.

Pay for decent writers you fools!

Re:Nothing personal, just business.

[twistedsymphony]

What you described about other magainzes has been my experience as well. Other publications treat subscribers to a higher quality version of the publication, larger format, higher quality pages, cleaner front covers etc.

Not so with OXM... When I got my first issue in after subscribing I felt like I was kicked in the nuts, sort of a "ha ha, we've already got your money so we're giving you the cheapest product possible". I even called them up to see if I could get the newsstand quality issues for a few extra $$ but no such luck. It's really no wonder they can't sell subscriptions.

PC Gamer too

[fistfullast33l]

Future also publishes PC Gamer magazine. It's the only print magazine of any type I actually subscribe to. I hope they don't decide to close it or any of the other mags down.

Not surprising.

[Cambo67]

This decline in computer magazine publishing is not at all surprising. The magazines have such a long lead time that they are pretty much out of date once they hit the newsagent shelves or the subscribers' doormats.

When Internet access in the UK was through metered 56K modem, reading the latest game news could be quite expensive. Downloading demos, patches, add-ons, drivers, etc, would also give your phone bill a nasty bump.

Now that most PC gamers have broadband access, they can read the latest news immediately, and download the latest 500Mb+ demos to their heart's content. Who needs magazine coverdisks any more?

Still, I do miss my monthly browsing of the Amiga magazines in WHSmiths to see which one had the more interesting stuff on the coverdisks - I still have the floppy disk from ST/Amiga Format Issue 1, though I doubt it's readable any more ;-)


Cambo

Internet + Aging Magazine Readers

[bestinshow]

Review magazines are pointless when you can read reviews online, with hundreds of game-resolution screenshots, and then there are sites like metacritic and so on that collate reviews so you don't get one crap review. And it is instant.

Also I don't want to read crap written for teenagers. I didn't want to when I was a teenager, but back then computing magazines were far more grown up.

Future Publishing started off with Amstrad Action some 21 years ago. It will be a shame to see them die (inevitable within a few years really) but they didn't give us a special last-edition AA, nor a last-edition Commodore Format. They deserve all they're getting.

The only (computing) magazine I've bought this year has been Retro Gamer. Yeah, you can get that stuff online, but it is nicely presented with adult articles.

Re:Internet + Aging Magazine Readers

[Anonymous Coward]

Magazines like Amstrad Action, Your Sinclair and Amiga Power were all great magazines from Future that stood ahead of the pack. Amstrad Action showed how you could combine serious material with games stuff and please everyone as well as doing some ground breaking things (it was the first UK mag to covermount a cassette with software on it). Your Sinclair was created by Dennis but purchased by Future and was a great training ground for some of the companies best writers. It had an atomosphere and style of it's own and was the Smash Hits of computer gaming.

Amiga Power took the Your Sinclair (and to some extent Amstrad Actions) policy of totally honest reviewing to the max. Instead of giving an average game 70%, they gave it 50%. If a game in Amiga Power got above 80% you knew it was good. Believe it or not, some magazines would never give marks below 50%. Amiga Power used the full scale. The scores meant something and the reviewers told the truth without being scared of publisher pressure due to the potential to lose advertising.

Great mags and we won't see their like again.

Accounting Math

[TubeSteak]

For those of you confused about how a company can make a profit while reporting losses, the losses came from other things like a charge on assets, not a loss based on poor sales.

And this is using Generally Accepted Accounting Practices (GAAP), not Hollywood/Government style accounting.

Re:Accounting Math

[yobjob]

Expect their cashflow to take a hit next year when the execs secure multi million pay rises for saying 'organic development.'

Re:Accounting Math

[nomadic]

I thought European companies didn't use GAAP, they used some looser Euro thing.

Linux Format

[Srdjant]

Don't they write/publish Linux Format magazine? That mag is awesome. I hope this won't affect this part of their business.

Re:Linux Format

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, Future does publish Linux Format. No, there's no danger - the loss is due to the over-valuation of some titles that Future bought, so this is really a one-off thing to balance the books. Stevie is scary, but smart: revenues are up 6% this year, Future is still making a profit, so everything is OK. This is only really "more regrettable signs of a a fading print industry" if you don't understand that a company can make a profit while still reporting a loss ;)

Glad you like the magazine - do you read the blog too? http://www.linuxformat.co.uk/blog

Re:Linux Format

[Anonymous Coward]

The Linux Format pricing is insane, £6.99 (approx $14) for magazine + DVD. Whilst for non-broadband users it might be useful, for the rest of us it's a coaster. £3.99 for a discless edition would make more sense.

thanks for that

[way2trivial]

it's exactly what I was looking for in the comments..

Stevie

[popo]

Start working on that resume...

why do people read magazines?

[chroot_james]

just curious what peoples thoughts are on paper vs. digital since it hasn't really been discussed in the comments yet.

Re:why do people read magazines?

[regular_gonzalez]

I have a few digital subscriptions that I got for free from offers that show up fairly regularly on deal sites. I don't have a strong preference for digital vs. paper; each has their strong points. Digital is nice because you receive the magazine before the print version is available, generally by about 1-2 weeks (this is based on Games for Windows magazine, which I get in both formats. Hey, it was free -- why not?). The resolution isn't as crisp as I would like, and obviously it lacks the portability of the paper version. The interface in the Zinio reader is slower and more cludgey than it should be, but that is obviously something that can be improved with time. The main advantage of digital is that it's much easier to keep years worth of magazines on a hard drive than to have them taking up a significant amount of room in a closet.

In general, my preference comes down to the format of the magazine. If it's a light, casual read ala gaming mags, than digital is better. If it's something I'll want to spend more time with, curled up on the couch or my recliner and reading more for depth, ala Discover, than print is superior.

Re:why do people read magazines?

[bigbigbison]

I subscribe to the PC-centric gaming mags because I'm doing a dissertation on PC Gaming, so I'm keeping the magazines for possible research. However, I might be pretty rare in that regard.

Another reason is that with subscriptions on ebay being so cheap, it isn't that big of a deal to subscribe to them. I think I got 3 years of PC Gamer for $9.99. That's basically 30 cents an issue. At that price, why not?

Re:why do people read magazines?

[Metsys]

just curious what peoples thoughts are on paper vs. digital since it hasn't really been discussed in the comments yet.

During the course of my daily life, I don't have access to the internet all the time. It's not available while I'm walking. It's not available when I'm waiting for the doctor/client/etc. I also don't have a laptop (don't need one, not for my line of work), so even if it was available I won't have access to it until I sat down at a desktop computer.

Magazines, pamphlets, and books don't require that I have a $800+ piece of hardware to view it. Also, printing to paper doesn't have the the rendering inconcistencies as the web does.

I don't believe printed information is ever going to go away, and printed publications still have plenty of advantages over their online equivalent. It doesn't require something larger than it self to be able to view it, lending it to others is easy (think of e-books vs. a real one), and above all anyone that can read has access to it.

Re:why do people read magazines?

[Inverted Intellect]

In some ways, I just prefer the format of dead-tree published content. I like browsing through the articles in a basically linear fashion, at least in magazines that happen to have a decent content-to-advertising/bullshit/inane-fanboyism ratio.

I recently read somewhere about NYT expecting to release a newsreader for their paper which presents the content in basically the same way as dead-tree paper. If that was available for the gaming mags I like to read, I wouldn't bother with the waste of dead-tree mags.

But then, The Escapist reads very much like a magazine. I do read that from time to time, even though I dislike how they assume everyone is reading it on an 800x600 resolution screen (dammit, I don't have all that real-estate just so it can be wasted on useless borders. Why don't they use scaleable higher-res pics so the content can be presented in people's preferred resolution? But I digress...).

Bathroom

[palladiate]

I read magazines in the bathroom while my laptop is currently in pieces. I'm waiting on my 3rd replacement screen.

That's the only excuse I can think of. You read magazines because either you don't have a laptop, you don't have Wifi, or you don't have to go to the bathroom. Any one of those three probably makes you a freak, though.

Computer Magazines are not dead, just crap

[Marcion]

Bring back Amstrad Action... ...Downhill from there.

Computer Magazines are not dead, they still have a viable business, but they are just crap.

The problem with most computer magazines:

1. CD of crap Windows shareware. Even Linux magazines have CDs that I could just download.
2. Old News, they should not bother with news as by the time it gets to the stand, I have read it all on Slashdot two weeks before.
3. Not enough in-depth features. Most mags seem to be written for the causal buyer. There are only so many "Introductions to Photoshop" or "how to clean up your spyware" that I can take.
4. Under qualified writers, often the 'staff writers' do not have anything really to say. I would prefer real experts, even if every magazine was written by different people.
5. Gushing reviews - everything is the best thing since sliced bread. I am English, I want you to rip the product to sheds. (Think English newspaper or 'the Register').
6. They have given up on jokes as the casual user will not get them(see 3).

I buy magazines on planes, or if my work buys them. I do however read Micro Mart. It is less than £2, has a Linux, Mac and Amiga columns, has nice pictures of hardware and no crappy CD.

If anyone can suggest a computing equivalent to 'the economist' then let me know.

Re:Computer Magazines are not dead, just crap

[Anonymous Coward]

Er... what?

- 3. Not enough in-depth features. Most mags seem to be written for the causal buyer. There are only so many "Introductions to Photoshop" or "how to clean up your spyware" that I can take. -

Dude, go read over the Linux Format archives section (http://www.linuxformat.co.uk/archives). Just in the last few issues they've done head-to-head benchmarking of Xen+Intel VT vs VMware, a 3D game programming series, a Greasemonkey tutorial, a roundup of C compilers, an AppArmor tutorial, a PAM authentication tutorial, an Asterisk tutorial, and lots more. They've also had interviews with Jeff Waugh, Kim Polese, Stuart Cohen, Greg Kroah-Hartman, Bruce Perens, Chris DiBona, Larry Wall, and many others. Are you looking for something harder?

- 4. Under qualified writers, often the 'staff writers' do not have anything really to say. I would prefer real experts, even if every magazine was written by different people. -

The LF team contains Graham Morrison, the Kalbum developer (http://www.paldandy.com/kalbum/), Paul Hudson (author of PHP in a Nutshell plus various Linux Unleashed books), Nick Veitch (the ex-editor of Amiga Format), and more.

- I buy magazines on planes, or if my work buys them. I do however read Micro Mart. It is less than £2, has a Linux, Mac and Amiga columns, has nice pictures of hardware and no crappy CD. -

Micro Mart does indeed cost less than £2, but it also only sells 23,000 copies a month (see http://www.abc.org.uk./ That means they need to get the majority of their money through advertising, so you end up with a lot of fluff for your money. Sure, LF isn't cheap ($14 with "free" DVD), but it does have about 100 pages of editorial each issue, plus if you subscribe you get it for $99 a year.

Re:Computer Magazines are not dead, just crap

[Knara]

#2 and #3 are the reasons I don't read them anymore. "Breaking news" that is over a month old is pointless. For the video game print industry to survive, they have to start doing a lot more analysis and in-depth features, vs. trying to tell me about how great E3 was over a month later.

Re:Computer Magazines are not dead, just crap

[Khuffie]

If you are at all interested in indepth features about stuff like Photoshop/Illustrator, etc, I would recommend Computer Arts magazine. It's pretty damned good.

Re:Computer Magazines are not dead, just crap

[Anonymous Coward]

Future Publishing's computer magazines do hold more than just shareware crap. Every month there's at least one or two commercial programs you can't get for free on the Web -- legally anyway. Plus, I don't have broadband, so the cover discs make a good way to top up on recent versions of essential apps like OpenOffice and FireFox.

I cut right back to 1 Gaming magazine.

[Anonymous Coward]

As soon as I had access to the Internet I quickly stopped buying computer magazines.

As mentioned by other people, demos, patches and shareware I can download easily enough.

I used to compulsively buy PC magazines for the news, but now everything is weeks out of date by the time you get the mag.

The only magazine I still buy (currently subscribe to) is Edge magazine. It is a multi format mag that is read by industry people. Quality articles and news that I have not generally seen anywhere else, or with a intelligent commentary. Well worth reading. The rest are, to me, pointless.

They don't only do Computer mags

[KingDaveRa]

I have to admit, I got bored of PC mags; I was reading news stories I'd read a month ago on Digg/Slashdot - even the BBC. The reviews I couldn't care less about unless I was actually buying something, and the technical articles either aren't relevant to me, or I'm just not interested. So all that was really left was the opinion pieces, and even then, I couldn't care.

So now, I hardly ever buy PC mags. I do, on the other hand, still have a subscription to Guitarist magazine, and I know Future do four or five other music mags (Future Music, and Total Guitar for a couple), a load of mountain biking magazines, plus I think, a few home-crafts titles. It's not like the Internet is killing what they do overall. I think it is a case that they've made some silly moves internally and messed things up.

I honestly feel that you can't currently beat a magazine for good, well thought out, well structured articles about things. I've got a Photography magazine I buy now, mainly because I can't find good howto articles online. Plus, I prefer to read stuff on paper. I don't like sitting in bed hugging my TFTs.

Rant/Rave over!

Oh the ironing...

[Anonymous Coward]

Or maybe I've just become bored of their endless fanboi masturbatory habits.

And amazingly, this was posted on Slashdot, without any sense of irony.

No, the cat does not "got my tongue."

[Impy the Impiuos Imp]

> a large reported loss by Future Publishing, the...publisher
> of...the U.S. Official Xbox Magazine. Their pre-tax losses
> totaled $95.6 million, while profits were down $39.8 million to $26.7 million

"Future Publishing officials admitted they probably shouldn't have followed Microsoft's business model for the Xbox when designing their Xbox magazine."

Blame the fanboy-ish writing

[MMaestro]

Seriously. After Sony announced their $500/$600 price tag for the PS3, I was still reading magazines talking about how the PS3 was going to be the greatest video system upgrade since the NES to the SNES. Sony Connect was going to rock Xbox Live, the Sixaxis was supposed to bridge the gap between the Xbox360 controller and the Wii-mote, and Resistance was supposed to negate the 1-year advantage Xbox360 had by blowing people out of the water with its graphics.

Post-launch, in the hands of the customer, people are PISSED. Internet video gaming news sites aren't much better, but they're (mostly) free so an anti-print media backlash is not unexpected.

Future are moving with the times...

[Anonymous Coward]

Although the magazine publication arm may be slowing, their work for corporate clients is extending. They are doing all the content for the forthcoming BT Vision video-on-demand/digital freeview platform. They also are starting to put their toe in the water of blogging with a blog for girl gamers.

The thing is back in the day they were the innovators, adopting computerised DTP before a lot of the other publishers and hiring journo who had a real passion for their subjects. I still think this is true having met a couple but they do seem to have grown big without thinking about why they are big. They also annouced the closing of a number of titles recently. Their web offerings still need to get a clue about trackbacks and online communities. They have a lot of valuable content, they need to get smarter at making money from it. The comment of the chief exec is very true, but in a truely digital age they need to beef up their web offerings and start hiring some real talent in house.

Just my 2c from here in Bath.

OMG!

[tubapro12]

Someone spelled "loses" right!

God Save Edge Magazine!

[Anonymous Coward]

Whatever you think of Future's other publications, Edge Magazine is the holy grail of video game publications. They get interviews that most online sites can't and most crappy gaming mags for 14-year-olds won't. Their reviews are also excellent and show a fine taste for gaming in general. What Edge really does best, though, are the feature articles. They can go on site and are able to put together a really polished piece of journalism with gorgeous full page photographs on glossy paper. They have people writing for them that are in the industry and know people in the industry and write about what they think is important. It's not all press releases, previews, and reviews of games like every other gaming publication.

I also subscribed to the entire run of Next Generation magazine, the US version of Edge, until its unfortunate cancellation. I'm still impressed by the slightly wider pages, velvety cover, and substantial heft. It showed a level of sophistication that was woefully lacking in the EGMs and GamePros of the day (no offense Seanbaby!). The recent Next Gen, a web only publication, is excellent but a mere shadow of the magazine.

If you haven't read it, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of Edge off the rack at Barnes and Noble. They seem to be the only book store that imports it to the US. You will get an idea of what you are missing by just reading the online blogs.

Re:God Save Edge Magazine!

[pommiekiwifruit]

On the other hand, Games(tm) has aggresively gone for Edge's turf, and has had some awards to prove it. Edge is getting on, after all. As for self-confidence... Edge was Simon Cowell before Simon Cowell was :-)

IIRC its predecessor "ACE" magazine was less self-conscious but that could be nostalgia talking.

In my brief visits to the USA I couldn't find any serious video games magazines, just the advert compilations. Next Generation's demise might be taken as showing there is little call for that sort of thing in the land of Walmart. I can't imagine that being the case in Japan for example.

perhaps publishing in the present might help?

[Anonymous Coward]

meh

More of the same...

[MaWeiTao]

I can't say I'm sorry to see these magazines go. These rags are nothing but cover-to-cover advertisements. They consist mostly of previews, some feature article with no substance whatsoever and excessively positive reviews. Either that or it's some guy trying to wax philosophical about something pointless.

It's either that or the writers gloat about how they're in the industry and get their hands on everything before the average consumer does. They barely put any effort into print quality so that I can clearly see what they're trying to present in screenshots.

It isn't like the good old days with the nice crisp screenshots and detailed game information. The best thing was the pages and pages of detailed game maps. Who the hell puts effort into anything like that anymore?

It's not like the internet has helped. It's more of the same and in some ways, worse.

They publish other stuff too...

[Macgrrl]

I have had a subscription to one of their cross-stitch magazines for nearly 5 years now. They are quite strong in the crafts market. The have plenty of titles that are nothing to do with computers or gaming.

They completely cornered the cross-stitch market

[goldcd]

Seemingly they launched extra magazine solely to occupy shelf-space, meaning if you randomly selected one it was unlikely to be published by their competition. Hence anybody trying to get a foothold in the market was crushed and Future owns the market.