Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Gaming Mag Circulation Numbers May Not Mean That Much

Posted by Zonk on from the warning-business-terminology-ahead dept.

The regular Game Mag Weasling column at the blog GameSetWatch usually runs down the contents of publications that recently hit the newsstands. This week, blogger Kevin Gifford tackles the thorny subject of falling subscriptions as they apply to game magazines. He references a discussion of falling subscriptions in the magazine publishing industry at large, which notes that a metric just as important as real subscribers is the number of readers-per-copy. Re-reading among friends and the appearance of a magazine in a doctor's office is another important factor to consider in a magazine's success. "Game Informer's [readers-per-copy] audience is 'only' about 68% larger than EGM's, despite having over four times the paid circulation. If you put enough credence to the numbers, it means that GameStop is spending a lot of money printing, mailing, and distributing those two million-odd copies of GI each month, yet not being as efficient in attracting an audience with those printed copies as EGM and GamePro is."

7 of 74 comments (clear)

  1. I don't read these magazines by moderatorrater · · Score: 3, Interesting

    My GF has a subscription to GameInformer, we keep the magazine in the bathroom, and I still don't read it when I'm tackling a particularly long, boring shift on the throne. The writing is amateurish, too much advertising, and too little content. I do appreciate the ratings, but they only reinforce what i already thought about the game. Also, it's hard for a no-name game to get a high rating, even if it's great. I'm sure some people find the magazine helpful, but I sure as hell don't.

  2. I'll tell you why by MBCook · · Score: 4, Interesting

    They're terrible

    I've been subscribing to gaming magazines for a very long time. One of the first 10 issues of Nintendo Power, i think. I've subscribed to NP, GamePro, GameInformer, Sega Magazine, Next Generation, Playstation Magazine, and others. My subscriptions are currently running out on my gaming magazines. In fact I'm letting all my magazines run out (except for MAKE and Forbes). I'll still get Game Informer (free with Game Stop card, which saves me a fair bit of money for the amount I trade in).

    Forbes is very high class, I read quite a bit of the articles in each issue. Same thing with MAKE. The video game magazines have all been "eh". They have been for a very, very long time. But they served a purpose: I could see things about new games. Screenshots, previews, etc. But now (and for years now) I've been able to get reviews online (IGN and Gamestop, just to name two). I can get screenshots and preview movies that way. I find out about things much earlier than the magazines do. That includes reviews and previews. I get more points of view from web sites, and the copy is just as good if not better much of the time (pro sites, not fanboy sites).

    I have TV (specifically X-Play, even if it's not what it once was) for reviews as well.

    I don't have any need for the game mags. Everything they do someone else does better, often faster, and for free now.

    There are a few little exceptions. Next Generation was fantastic. I still wish that magazine hadn't gone down. I remember them having great pieces on the 1st and 2nd generation of 3D systems, differences, how they approach things, etc. They had pieces about how games were developer (this went will, this became a big problem, etc... sort of like some of the stuff on Gamasutra). The Escapist is good, but I'm not interested in reading that much on my screen. If they were print, I'd subscribe.

    But I can get fanboy style "Here comes Mortal Kombat 8... looking good so far" stuff from dozens of sites, I don't need GamePro for that. The magazines generally don't have articles worth anything (just game reviews and preview puff pieces). They don't print criticism of games before they are out (where as some of the sites I read will post the "but we are deeply worried about X" stuff). There are some exceptions (Nintendo Power has had an occasionally interesting series of interviews with some interesting gaming people), but those are often available online anyway.

    Like many newspapers, they need to step it up if they want to survive. They no longer have a monopoly on the game preview channel... and they are finding they have to compete.

    --
    Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
    1. Re:I'll tell you why by deftcoder · · Score: 2, Interesting

      PCGamer (US version) was fucking AWESOME back in the day.

      I remember the issue that reviewed Half Life 1... it was over 400 pages long!

      I canceled my subscription once the page count dropped below 100 pages. It was a "read in half hour" thing instead of something you could come back to over and over during the next week.

      PCGamer was also the first place I saw CliffyB in a rabbit suit...

      --
      Peace sells, but who's buying?
    2. Re:I'll tell you why by Khuffie · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Try Edge Magazine. It is by far one of the best magazines I've read out there. There previews (which they put in a section called 'Hype', which I find appropriate) have the guts to be critical. They have at least 3 articles per issue on general gaming issues with good writing and analysis, a cool 'Time Extend' feature which re-reviews an older game, along with stuff like interviews and the like.

    3. Re:I'll tell you why by Deliveranc3 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I agree, what the hell is happening to the escapist? I would have bought a print subscription to the old look in a heartbeat... now it looks like every other crap filled site out there.

      Have great articles from the most passionate and respected game journalists, throw in a couple reviews... you don't need perfect polish you need emotion and perspective and the escapist had those! Now it's just another over-edited crapshoot. I miss the themed editions, if they'd managed to tie that into game releases instead of seasons it would have been fantastic... Halo 3 drops issue comes out talking about the history of fps on consoles and pcs... Katamari Ships talk about innovative mechanics... etc. Fantastic concept could have been great but going downhill fast :(

    4. Re:I'll tell you why by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Edge used to be really good. They gave Halo 3 10 out of 10 - that is not critical. In the same issue they gave Metroid Prime 3 7 out of 10, which is fair enough - but sorry Halo 3 aint a 10 out of 10 if MP3 is 7.

  3. PC Gamer by gQuigs · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I still receive PC Gamer even though for the last 6+ months they have been saying that this is the last issue I'm going to get. In fact, last month I received two copies.

    I personally got fed up with how into Vista they are. No less than 4 months had an article on helping people Install Vista. They also kept saying nothing but positive things about it. How you needed to go to Vista to play the latest games, etc.

    I run Ubuntu. I'm going to be buying a new computer to play 2 games Enemy Territory Quake Wars and Unreal Tournament 3. Neither of which needs Vista or PC Gamer for that matter. I have seen there articles decline sharply in quality in the last few months.