Gaming magazine's readership declining |
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Gamers are now preferring other media for gaming information, it would seem, as the latest figures have revealed that uni-platform gaming magazines are in continuing decline.ABC has revealed that many Future and Imagine titles has fallen once again. While the sales figures for the Official PlayStation Magazine 3 were not provided, OPSM2's monthly circulation is down by 24 percent from the August 2006 figures, hitting 76,351.
Official Xbox 360 sales, however, were boosted coming up from 42,680 to just over 56,000. A very good news for publisher Future, since it has closed Official Xbox publication recently.
Without the OPSM3 figures, monthly sales of the official titles went down to 175,368, compared to 218,863 six months ago.
In the lead in the unofficial mag titles is Imagine-published Play, with sales of 29,000 despite a 37.5 percent drop in readership compared to last year. Future's PSW figures went down from nearly 34,500 to just over 26,000 copies. Other Imagine titles went down with the following statistics: Powerstation with 15,171 copies from 22, 288 last year, 360 with 11,369 copies from 13,098.
Future published PC gaming titles went down with the following numbers: PC Zone from just over 30,000 to 27,000 while PC Gamer lost 1675 readers, hitting just over 43,600. The decline for PC titles appears to be slow but steady.
The bright spot for these gaming magazine publishers were seen in the stable sales position of multi-platform magazines. Future's Games Master sales hovers around the 54,000 mark while Imagine's Games TM sales stays at 20,000. Future's Edge sales also rose up to four percent from 33,597 to 35,145.
Recently, Nintendo has been grabbing a lot readers' attention, it would seem, after a 17 percent rise in the sales of Official Nintendo Magazine, with readers buying 43,000 copies a month.
James Ashton of Future Publishing complained that the falling magazine sales are to be blamed on the rapid transition to next-generation consoles and the rise in the amount of video game coverage in the mainstream media. Guess we'll be seeing more of you guys checking out this site!
Via Mediatel
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Comments [refresh]
Well I still get EGM and read it every time it comes to my house. But I will admit I knew most of the "breaking news" in the magazine about 2 weeks before. Even so I find it convenient and helpful.
anyone using egm for anything is useless
The reason the magazines have seen a downturn is the same as EVERY MAGAZINE ON THE PLANET, with the exception of the supermarket checkout smut tabloids.
Why pay four to eight bucks for a magazine that is outdated before it hits the newstand, when most people already have Internet at home (not "free", but you already pay for it) that can give them INSTANT updates on information, instead of waiting weeks or months for a magazine to catch up.
I love magazines; when I was a kid through early adulthood I had stacks of them everywhere. It really was the best way to stay current on most topics. The internet has changed all of that - magazines are simply dying, because a better alternative has been found. Magazines were a means to an end, not the end in themselves.
I used to get the official 360 mag just for the online game demos but it works out a lot cheaper for XBLive so I just download from there instead now.
The article notes that Play, Games, & Edge have retained a somewhat stable readership. What's common about all these mags? ---You don't feel like a 5yr old and/or embarrassed if someone sees you reading it. This is the same even for mags like PC Gamer, which are haphazard in design and look like they're geared for the kiddies. --Not that those mags don't have their place. But the point is that when the state-of-the-art machines on the market cost $400-$600 dollars, I think even Sony & Microsoft have done proper market analysis of the majority of their target customers' age bracket. Likewise for Play, Games, & Edge. I like the web, but it's nice to have paper to read every now-and-then, especially for the bathroom, traveling, or just plain relaxing on the couch. You can't really kick back and lay down with a 10-pound laptop swung up over your head in the air now, can you?
First off, they're expensive! OPM costs just under $15 (CAD), thats a lot of money for a magazine, some of the other ones costs anywhere from $8-$12 per issue.
Also, what I read in one of those mags is already outdated by weeks on the internet in various blogs (such as QJ) and forums.
It's G4 people. This station tells you 90% of whats in the mags, and it's updated everyday. I still have my subscription to Game Informer, but other than a few reviews and behind the scenes features, I've heard it all on G4.
Beside when they review a game on x-play they can show you the problems a lot easier than they can in a mag.
i agree. people dont buy magazines anymore because they get the info online 24/7
Most of these gaming magazines are so biased now a days whats the point. I cancelled all of mine a few months ago...
People just talk about "soap opera" of gaming instead of games now a days..
I totally think it's the internet. Especially when videogames are concerned you can get all the same info for free, plus videos and other extras, off of websites. Even better you have XBLM wich lets you even download the demos (except for exclusive ones they use to sell mags) and demo's were the only reason I ever got OXM or any other mag.
Honestly, I think magazines should be getting phased out in the next 10 years. Apple, Sony and MS will get smart and add in .PDF and .TXT reading cababilities into their next media players (hopefully, if not next, then one of them within 3-5 yrs), then we just need publishing companies to start making everything available in nice PDF's....
SAVE TEH TREEZ !
I used to read PSM and other magazines when I was in school now I just get all stuff off the web.