Games for Windows - Magazine Folds

Dhruin

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Ziff Davis has announced Gaming for Windows magazine (formerly Computer Gaming World) will cease publication with the current issue - although the good news is the editorial team will be retained and the content moved online at 1Up.com:
This morning the 1UP Network, in conjunction with Microsoft, announced that Games for Windows: The Official Magazine will be transitioning from a print publication to an online-exclusive destination here on 1UP.com. The move is being done to help focus our efforts to where PC gamers spend most of their time: on their PCs. Over the next few weeks 1UP will be ramping up its efforts to become the premiere destination for PC gaming content on the web.
"PC gamers and marketers have made the online space their home. There are 10 million World of Warcraft subscribers, 15 million Steam users, and when online and digital distribution is taken into account, DFC Intelligence reported that people spent more money on PC games than on any other platform last year," said Jason Young, CEO of Ziff Davis Media, parent to 1UP Network. "It's a natural move for us to refocus our resources and talent to the online space, in order to reach the PC gaming community where it truly lives." Added Simon Cox, VP of Content for 1UP, "I am very excited to refocus our vision for GFW to online and reinvigorate it with new life. GFW has always been a stellar publication, and it will now be able to grow in more ways than ever before in content and audience. I think GFW fans and 1UP Network users will truly love our enhanced online PC coverage and the features it will now be able to offer them."
You can also head over to Editor-in-Chief Jeff Green's blog for his view.
More information.
 
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I never read GFW, but I subscribed to CGW for nearly a decade. It was my primary source of gaming information before discovering Gone Gold and RPGDot. I remember the good old days when they had 4 page reviews of games. Good to see the crew land on their feet.
 
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Just another newsbit tucked away amongst the "Pre Alpha interviews with the pre-pre-release concept artists" newsbits but it's pretty big news.

I too remember devouring CGW in the 1980s and PC Gamer magazines later in the 90s for their exhaustive multi-page reviews and previews.

CGW was THE source for gaming news since there was no internet. I wonder how long it will be before we see headlines like "New York Times to cease print publications"
 
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I dunno. I'm not American and don't know the products and market but I used to buy 2-4 magazines every month years ago -- I haven't bought a single one in 5 years+. So, between the internet and the rebranding and Ziff Davis filing for bankruptcy protection, it's too hard to draw an accurate conclusion.
 
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This should not be taken as any indication that PC gaming isn't as strong, nay, STRONGER, than ever. No, sir.

No, it should be taken as an indication that distribution of physical publication media is in sharp decline. Nothing more, nothing less.

Echoing the comments of others, it's been many years since I last bought a gaming mag - why would I when I have internet resources that are both better and cost far less?

Same goes for any other mag and also newspapers - just don't have the need for them anymore.
 
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The last mag I remember buying is The One. Getting on for 20 years now.
 
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Yeah, I used to subscribe to a few gaming magazines back in the early 90's/late 80's. I don't subscribe now, but I read a hell of a lot more online.
 
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What Holly Avenger said.

Absolutely nothing to do with PC gaming (if anything a good sign that that worthless rag is going away).

Just another sign that paper gaming magazines are a dead mule. Don't kick it! It will just stir up more stink. Let it die the death it deserves.
 
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I like magazines because you can read them in any room you want. You can be standing, sitting or even lying in bed. You can bend them and fold them any which way. And you can take them with you wherever you go, like to the local coffee shop.

Progress isn't always for the best ("From now on, no more hand stitching!" -- Fiddler On The Roof).
 
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, it's been many years since I last bought a gaming mag - why would I when I have internet resources that are both better and cost far less?

Same goes for any other mag and also newspapers - just don't have the need for them anymore.

I surf about 3 hours a day, visiting quality newspaper websites and gaming websites (+ some geeky movie sites), but

I never found anything of the qualitity that the gaming magazine has. that I subscribe for 11 years now (it's predecessors I bought regularly since 1988).

I naturally subscribe a normal newspaper, because no thinking citizen can live without one (and I read at least 1 other quality newspaper at work - every day).

The day paper magazines will cease to exist is the day I stop playing computer games.
 
No, it should be taken as an indication that distribution of physical publication media is in sharp decline. Nothing more, nothing less.

I tend to agree.

I rarely buy gaming mags nowadays, but it's still 5 or so per year.

Here we still have several gaming mags.
 
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Thats just great I subscribe to this magazine, only to read the reviews though. Used to subscribe to CGW as well before it became Games for Windows. My reading selection seems to be diminishing these days.
 
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I tend to agree.

I rarely buy gaming mags nowadays, but it's still 5 or so per year.
Even less for me, but rather because I know I´ll get them for free later when a friend of mine sorts them out.
Here we still have several gaming mags.
Not for long. PC Powerplay closed last year, PCA, PCG and PCG-HW seem to be more or less 3 products by the same editorial staff.
Just check the IVW database and you get good ideas who is going to fold next.
 
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Yes, I fear there's too much already.
 
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I also wonder if rebranding to "Games for Windows" was ultimately a bad move for them. I infrequently read gaming mags, but I would be far more inclined to buy CGW than GFW - the latter conjures up the image of a Microsoft shill to me. That may not be true, but it's the image I get - not an independent mag, but one that is owned by someone with an agenda to push. It doesn't make me want to buy. Quite the opposite in fact.
 
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Jeff Green wrote today that he has been told by the management that the rebranding extended the mag´s life.
 
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I like magazines because you can read them in any room you want. You can be standing, sitting or even lying in bed. You can bend them and fold them any which way. And you can take them with you wherever you go, like to the local coffee shop.

Progress isn't always for the best ("From now on, no more hand stitching!" -- Fiddler On The Roof).

Now you probably won't expect this from me, being a traditionalist and all, but I think it's damn time these magazines started folding.

I agree with you that it's nice to have mags to read, but the problem with magazines for gaming remains that they are not distinct enough from websites. They offer, for money, what many, many websites offer for free.

And hell, they're usually not very good at it. Did anyone happen to see the EGM preview of Fallout 3? As bad as some of the worst ones out there.

So what's their function? Just to provide exclusives to companies? A last bastion where at least there's some kind of protection of exclusive screenshots and information?

Honestly, that's not going to keep anyone adrift. Magazines aren't offering anything new or different. Maybe they can't. Is it then a wonder to see 'em die off? No. Is it a shame? Maybe, I don't mind myself.
 
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I had a subscription ... but I won't miss it. My kids read it more than me.
 
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I'm a little disappointed, although I admit I have a pile of these unread not far from me. I liked CGW quite a bit though and read it for a lot of years.

I'm curious, what decent PC-specific gaming mags are left in the US? Any recommendations?
 
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