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PlayStation: The Official Magazine shut down, final issue this holiday
PlayStation: The Official Magazine is halting production, and the holiday 2012 issue will be its last, Game Informer reports.Earlier this year, PlayStation: The Official Magazine publisher Future US announced the shutdown of Nintendo Power. The final issue of Nintendo Power is slated for December, and we compiled a tribute post with memories from across the industry to mark its retirement.
Future making hard choices about US publications
A note to investors from publishing giant Future portends dark happenings for the company's US arm. The UK-based publisher has found continued operations in the US "significantly more challenging," due to a smaller scale operation and the business model for magazines in the States. In July, Future announced it was moving its Future US into a primarily digital business (i.e. non tree-based magazines), but things have apparently escalated. "With trading conditions in the U.S. reflecting ongoing weakness and decreasing visibility at newsstand, and an acceleration in the year-on-year growth rate in digital revenues, the Board is now considering a wider range of strategic options in respect of its U.S. operations," the note reads. Future US's magazine business currently includes all three official console magazines, along with PC Gamer and Best Buy's @Gamer. The question now revolves around whether the "wider range of strategic options" includes the publisher cutting its losses in the magazine space or moving to sell off the division. Future plans to share more details at the end of its fiscal year November 24.
WoW Magazine calling it quits
After just five issues, the official World of Warcraft Magazine is calling it quits. Future US has posted a notice on the website, and subscribers can either get a refund for the issues they didn't receive, or a voucher for six in-game World of Warcraft pets. Future recommends subscribers who want to keep up with the game in a dead tree format can subscribe to its PC Gamer publication, and it's possible Blizzard may try to publish something itself, though there are apparently no plans for that yet. It's kind of a shame -- the WoW Magazine did offer a lot of solid coverage about the game (and some good looks inside the workings of Blizzard's Irvine, CA campus), but the publication was also torn between its status as an official outlet and a separate press entity. Dan Amrich, the magazine's first editor-in-chief (who left even before the first issue was published, and is now working as an official Activision blogger) recently wrote about some of the troubles he had dealing with Blizzard's licensing department and their control over the magazine. When you combine that with the fact that MMO fans tend to prefer digital over analog, then apparently the whole venture just wasn't worth it. Like we said, shame.
Best Buy taps Future US for new game mag: @Gamer
Andy Eddy seems like a regular guy. He's got some sweet scruff and nothing on his Facebook page looks out of the ordinary, so -- wait, what's this? Apparently Mr. Eddy is "working at Future US in the Future Plus group on a new publication called @Gamer, the 'official games magazine of Best Buy.'" For real? It's news to us and certainly the first that Kyle Orland, ex-Joystiq blogger and devilishly handsome chap who noticed the blurb, has heard about it. While we're inclined to point out the obvious to Best Buy (uh, game mags are pretty dead, bro), we're interested in seeing how far this will go. Real editorial content or a glorified shopper's guide? We can't wait to find out! [Via The Game Beat]
World of Warcraft: The Magazine needs a new Editor-in-chief
A few of our readers (thanks, guys!) spotted this posting popping up on the various job boards recently -- Future US, the company publishing the World of Warcraft magazine that's due out any day now, is apparently seeking a new Editor-in-Chief. Say what? They haven't even released the first issue yet, and they're already seeking a new head honcho? We did a little poking around, and it's true -- Dan Amrich, the man who originally held the position, has moved off already to another gig with Activision (though it seems coincidental that he's going to work for Blizzard's parent company), and Future is stuck seeking a new EIC even before issue one releases. Does this mean the magazine is in trouble? True, it can't be good for the captain of a ship to move on just as it's heading out to port, but we've heard everything is still on course -- the first issue of the subscription (that quite a few people have already bought) is under Blizzard's scrutiny right now, and the second issue is well underway. Everything we hear still says they're aiming to release it sometime this month, but obviously if we hear anything else, we'll let you know. In the meantime, if you're in San Francisco, have a few years' publishing experience, and know a whole lot about World of Warcraft, we have this job you might want...
Future US president calls it quits
Yes, 12-year-old Billy Caruthers, projected winner of the 2036 presidential election has decided to resign from his pending office in order to dodge controversy surrounding his pending extramarital affair. He -- oh, wait. We totally misread that headline. The president of magazine publisher Future US, Jonathan Simpson-Bint, is stepping down August 31 in order to start up his own business. Simpson-Bint has been working with the company for 18 years, and oversaw the launch of PSM, IGN.com and DailyRadar.com.Future is currently looking for Simpson-Bint's replacement -- if you've got experience managing humongous publishing companies, yet find yourself working as a lowly fry cook at your local Carl's Jr., perhaps its time you gained some upward mobility.
Sony looks to expand Qore audience with free episode on Dec. 4
While Nintendo's lack of focus on its core audience is affecting one publication adversely, Sony's focusing on building its audience for Qore by offering the seventh episode of the Future US-produced digital magazine free of charge via the PlayStation Store. The episode will be available tomorrow, Thursday, Dec. 4.The free single-episode offering was announced on the PlayStation Blog, which details its contents, including host Veronica Belmont's visits to EA and Capcom to see Skate 2, Bionic Commando, and Flock, respectively. This episode also contains a playable Flock demo for annual subscribers, along with a Killzone 2 theme and "ArQade" game, Blast Qore, available to anyone who downloads it.
SCEA announces "PlayStation: The Official Magazine"
Official PlayStation Magazine is dead. Long live PlayStation: The Official Magazine! Miss the Official PlayStation Magazine (OPM), Ziff Davis' all-things-PlayStation 'zine that was unceremoniously axed last November just before the launch of the PlayStation 3? Well, Sony has announced that Future US – publisher of other fine magazine products like Official Xbox Magazine, PC Gamer, and ... uh, Pregnancy – has signed up to publish the newly announced PlayStation: The Official Magazine scheduled to hit newsstands in November, and run 13 issues a year (that's once a month using Sony's proprietary calendar technology). Of course, Future has also published the Official Sony PlayStation Magazine in the UK since 1995, and PSM (the independent PlayStation Magazine) in the US, so the whole Sony magazine thing is old hat for the folks at Future, we're sure. Speaking of PSM, editorial duties for the new mag will be handled by Rob Smith, former editor-in-chief of PSM, leading us to assume that the publisher won't be maintaining two PlayStation magazines, one "official" and one "independent." It's too bad, we'd take the acronym PSM over POM any day.
MacAddict Magazine to be renamed Mac|Life
Near the top of my list of the dumbest things I've heard today, Macworld reports that MacAddict is being relaunched as Mac|Life, thanks to some genius at Future US, the humorous and handy Mac-themed magazine's current publisher. The Macworld article points to a recent job posting on the SF Bay Area craigslist for a new Editor-In-Chief, which confirms the "rebranding" and indicates that the newly named mag will be on the stands in Spring 2007.I haven't followed any of the goings-on over at the-magazine-soon-to-be-formerly-named-MacAddict, so I don't know what's prompted this name change, but I am pretty convinced that it's still a bad idea. Aside from the fact that it ticks off Shawn King, who leads the similarly named Your Mac Life, the long-running Mac radio webcast, it makes the mistake of putting a silent "|" in the middle of the name! I hate that. It's fine for a logo or title treatment but you can't just go around inserting random characters into names that you want to roll off people's tongues. MacAddict was a perfectly good name and fitting for its readership and fans. And according to Wikipedia, "As of June 2006, the magazine has the second largest audited total circulation in North America among Macintosh-focused magazines (with a rate base of 110,000), after Macworld, as well as the second-largest audited newsstand sales." Why mess with a good thing? Will that "|" really boost circulation even more? I think not. As for the confusion in having a Mac|life and Your Mac Life in the same niche market, it appears the lawyers are about to get involved, based on this statement King gave to Macworld. "We're not happy about the name change. They've know about us and the similarity of the names is too close for comfort." We are consulting lawyers as to what our next move will be."And every time a lawyer's phone rings, an angel gets his wings.
