Over the past few years, readers of Electronic Gaming Monthly may have noticed that their video game magazine of choice was losing some weight, that its page numbers were dropping lower by the month. Given the dire state of print journalism, we knew it was only a matter of time before EGM went the way of The Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine, Games for Windows, and dozens of other discontinued gaming mags. What we didn’t expect, however, is that most of the 1UP Network would go down with it.

Read More »

Technically the magazine’s owner Ziff Davis hasn’t shut down or anything like that. But they did file for bankruptcy last week and have started throwing around corporate terms like restructuring. We’ve all heard a similar terms before — downsizing, transitioning, and reorganization. The reality to that plan is that some people are going to be out of work.

The company cites poor subscriptions and ad revenue as the central reason for them being in this hole which raises the question — is their core publication, Electronic Gaming Monthly relevant anymore? Is this trouble with Ziff Davis a reflection of our digital, electronic age where people just don’t read magazines any more? The company publishes other mags like PC Weekly and Games for Windows but with less people signing up for subscriptions what does that mean for these publications as a whole. There are certainly enough gaming zines out there. All you need to do is go down to your local Borders to see them. You have to wonder though — who is reading them?
Read More »