NYT: Ziff-Davis considering online-only future for EGM

by Randy Nelson { Nov 20th 2008 at 8:00PM }

As we near the end of a year that saw outspoken EGM editor-in-chief Dan "Shoe" Hsu resign his post, The New York Times quotes publisher Ziff-Davis as "considering" a course of action that would take the prominent print mag online only. The news comes in an article about ZD's decision to make a similar move with 27-year-old flagship publication, PC Magazine.

Ziff-Davis chief executive, James Young, revealed to the paper that an online-only future for EGM is a possibility, but that the publisher "would not make a decision before the end of the year." Recent months have seen the departure of staffers from 1UP, EGM's online sister publication, and a frank admission of the decreasing viability of games-related print media by 1UP editorial director, Simon Cox.

Tags: egm, electronic-gaming-monthly, ziff-davis

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

gweazel619 @ Nov 20th 2008 8:06PM

That kinda sucks. I love getting my EGM mags in the mail.

BananaBoat @ Nov 20th 2008 11:33PM

As do I. First they kill PC Gaming World (or games for windows, whatever), then they kill PC mag, and now possibly EGM? That's 3 magazines I've lost in a years time.

Is an online magazine not insane to anyone else? How am I supposed to read EGM online while I'm on the can? I'm not taking my laptop into the bathroom with me, that is for sure, and as such, I have no need to pay for EGM if it's online.

Meh

Titanium_Orchid @ Nov 21st 2008 3:25AM

go for Edge. Its the only (mostly) user supported gaming magazine left that I know of.

Chase @ Nov 21st 2008 4:29AM

Agreed.

Plus, I have three years left in my subscription. :[[[[[[[[[

If this does happen, I'll need to install a laptop stand in my bathroom.

Deeznuts420 @ Nov 21st 2008 8:50AM

im a bookworm poo'er too!

Obie @ Nov 21st 2008 9:16AM

Seeing EGM go will be kinda sad, I have been reading since the Sushi-X, Ed Semrad days!

Man before the internet, that was the best way to get gaming news, getting a new copy in the mail was like a mini Xmas.

bigsofty @ Nov 21st 2008 10:03AM

Were doomed to corporate mediocre...

Einhanderkiller @ Nov 20th 2008 8:09PM

Aww, what will happen to my subscription that lasts until 2038?

WilhelmThe1st @ Nov 21st 2008 3:04AM

That reminds me...

What happened with my subscription? I live in Canada, but I did the little work around and got one of those free 1 year subscriptions that Joystiq was giving out. I didn't expect it to work, but a couple months later I received a EGM in the mail. I got one more after this and then never again. Did they catch on and cancel my subscription or what?

Dr Scientist @ Nov 20th 2008 8:10PM

What ever will I read on the toilet!

Drewboy @ Nov 20th 2008 8:16PM

Don't worry, you can probably still read it if you have one of those Amazon.com Kindle readers.

WRE @ Nov 20th 2008 10:22PM

But if worse comes to worse wiping with a Kindle would probably ruin it...

aj @ Nov 21st 2008 12:29AM

A magazine costs significantly less than a Kindle.

I recommend reading a book.

I find Chekov's short stories entertaining, and they also help loosen my bowels during those long hauls.

borland502 (SDF Macross) @ Nov 21st 2008 6:44AM

"I find Chekov's short stories entertaining"

Did he ever find the Nukular wessels een Alemeeda?

justshovejayohbe @ Nov 21st 2008 8:47AM

Young people (I'm assuming most readers here are young) should be living life like a carpe diem poem, not sitting on the can reading Checkhov

aaron @ Nov 20th 2008 8:15PM

I saw this coming a mile away. Ziff-Davis has been losing money and cutting mags for years so it should be no surprise.

Sad. I read EGM from late '91 to the early 2000's. I ceased reading because they were no longer the same great EGM, became obvious liberals after moving to SF, and I find the same info in the mags for free online.

el serpiente @ Nov 20th 2008 9:49PM

Yeah, their glowing reviews of "Abortion Mama: Let's terminate life!" and "Gayz: We in ur churchez, killin ur marriage" obviously revealed their liberal slant.

aj @ Nov 21st 2008 12:32AM

You don't read a video game magazine because it's got a liberal bias?

Please be a troll. I don't want to live in a world where people actually think like that.

Sackolantern PSN ID: johnnynumber5 @ Nov 20th 2008 8:11PM

The only viable print magazine in the States is Game Informer. Not because it is a great publication but because of the deal they have with Gamestop and the free subscription with the purchase of a discount card.

lvl99ultrathug @ Nov 20th 2008 8:38PM

Dude, Game Informer is owned by Gamestop.

Sackolantern PSN ID: johnnynumber5 @ Nov 20th 2008 9:39PM

Well there you go ... Gamestop has it on lockdown

Riley @ Nov 20th 2008 10:49PM

no, it's not owned by gamestop, he was right, they're owned by barnes & noble, and they have a deal wih gamestop

(The Award-Winning) dark_inchworm @ Nov 20th 2008 11:21PM

Wikipedia says: It is owned and published by GameStop Corp. (Because Wikipedia is always right, yeah? ;) )

It's a pretty good read, though. Much better than the store it comes from.

John @ Nov 21st 2008 2:15AM

Gameinformer was owned by funcoland, which was purchased by gamestop which is owned by barnes and noble.

you are all partly right

(The Award-Winning) dark_inchworm @ Nov 21st 2008 10:41AM

And then Barnes & Noble spun them off into an independent company.

Tada!

Drewboy @ Nov 20th 2008 8:14PM

I've been reading EGM on and off since the Fabio cover back in the 80's. It'll be sad WHEN it goes to online only, but frankly I think that's the direction most all magazines are going to go in the future, particularly tech oriented ones. Heck, I didn't renew Motor Trend, Car & Driver, Road & Track, and Automobile because Autoblog was scooping them on the freshest news... I got my EGM subscription for the last year by getting a Gamespot membership, but I'd pay a small fee for online access.

Mr Khan @ Nov 20th 2008 8:18PM

I remember the mag being quite good in the earlier days of last generation, though what i've sampled of it lately has been quite poor

Of course, back in 2001-2002, i really wasn't online like i am today (dial-up helped hinder that), although the mag certainly has changed, especially in the post Shoe days

teknohed @ Nov 20th 2008 8:19PM

The writing has been on the wall for a long time. I used to have about six game magazine subs. The only ones I have now are RetroGamer, because it's frankly awesome enough to warrant the $180 subscription and EGM, because it was free. I love EGM...but not as much as I love Retronauts and 1UP FM...which is exactly why EGM is going away.

J.Goodwin @ Nov 20th 2008 9:05PM

Yeah, but do you even read 1up's news articles or features at all anymore? I haven't touched the main site since I bookmarked the XML feeds for the podcasts.

I read Joystiq, and I read Gamespite (Parish's blog), I read Giant Bomb (selectively), and I listen to podcasts, that's my gaming media consumption.

I can't be alone.

teknohed @ Nov 21st 2008 1:04PM

I have the main feed in my RSS feed, but I basically just page down rapidly past most of their stuff.

If it's a review I respect I'll read a review, every know and then they have interesting stuff. But like you say, the editors individual blogs are WAAAAAY more interesting. I wonder if the next thing to die after the magazines will be the big portals. I mean one day am I going to just be reading Justin McElroy blog? And eventually just the Justin McElroy Twitter feed? And then just the Justin McElroy emoticons?

mr bean @ Nov 20th 2008 8:22PM

Shoe refused to be relegated to refilling ink-jets, so he cleaned out his locker, jumped in his Lambo and left. snk.

Robert @ Nov 20th 2008 8:25PM

Man, that kind of sucks. I have to admit, though, I'm part of the problem in that I don't subscribe. College ain't cheap! @ Sackolantern: I too enjoy getting my GI in the mail monthly, and it is indeed a good deal, however, biased, seeing as how it's owned by GameStop. Also, aside from exlusive interviews, previews, etc. I've usually already heard what print has to say several weeks earlier online or via podcast, so as far as viability goes, the deeper broadband penetrates, the less relevant even GI will become. More also, I think I speak for a lot of gamers when I say I would never consider a subscription to GI if it didn't come "free" with an EdgeCard.

FAT MAN @ Nov 20th 2008 8:35PM

thanks for the heads up joystiq! i was just about to subscribe to them.

WRE @ Nov 20th 2008 9:01PM

That will be sad. I get both EGM and GI but I hate GI!

J.Goodwin @ Nov 20th 2008 9:03PM

Shocking. I had no idea that after closing both their other magazines that Ziff might close this one.

I think we can all say that no one saw this one coming. Like the recession. There was NO POSSIBLE WAY that we could have known.

George P. @ Nov 20th 2008 9:06PM

That would suck massively. The kindle just wouldn't work in the bathroom. I don't think of EGM while on the inter-webs... only while making a deposit at the Bank of America... on a side note, it'll be nice to not have my credit card automatically charged with little to no warning...

this seems inevitable... ah well.. it was a good 10 years

Matt @ Nov 20th 2008 9:27PM

Have to agree with George, slowly running out of things to read on the can.

aristokrat @ Nov 21st 2008 12:12AM

That's what the PSP is for. Additionally, there's these new things called books, and you can get for free as these places called libraries. They have lots of words, good for a couple of can trips at least.

Matt @ Nov 21st 2008 9:31PM

But it's hard to put down a book, nothing worse than your feet going to sleep on the can.

Michael @ Nov 20th 2008 9:40PM

I used to freelance for EGM back around the time of the Dreamcast launch (Mike Price, the "violence expert"). It was a great time for the mag and I had blast working with Shoe, Crispin and my good friend Dean (Johnny "England" was the editor then). I will very much miss the mag that I grew up with. I started with issue #1 but fell off about a year ago. Those guys poured their hearts into the mag. Sad to see it going but it doesn't surprise me.

Doug @ Nov 20th 2008 9:39PM

That ad almost made it impossible to comment: And I have Mozilla.

Andrew @ Nov 20th 2008 9:43PM

"James" Young?

Really?

nick @ Nov 20th 2008 9:53PM

I'm not surprised. The December issue of EGM arrived last week, and it was the smallest issue I've seen in a while. Usually December issues are the largest of the year. The cover was completely black and white, and while some may say for artistic purposes, I immediately suspected it was done to cut costs.

butaneko @ Nov 21st 2008 10:24AM

I thought the exact same thing. It felt like a comic book when I picked it up and there was a 2 year renewal offer in the bag for $25. I considered it but it felt like a dying mag in my hands.

Eh I'm pretty much a flip through the reviews then throw it in the bathroom sort of reader anyway. The 1-man reviews take away a lot of the value for me. If I was in charge of things I'd make every review 3-man and spread each one over multiple pages. The more screenshots the better really.

When I was a kid I used to read EGM and Nintendo Power till the covers fell off. I remember that Christmas issue with TMNT on the cover that I would look through every day for weeks. And that players guide for Ninja Gaiden 2 that Nintendo Power sent out that I took on vacation and read for hours. I didn't even have the game.

Level 5 @ Nov 20th 2008 10:01PM

Face it guys, EGM hasn't been worth reading since Steve Harris left.

Redsyrup @ Nov 20th 2008 11:09PM

Good. This magazine is a shadow of its former Ed Semrad helmed self.

I miss Next Generation and I've moved on to Euopean mags like Edge and Total PC Gaming which tailor to a mature readership. What distinguishes a mag from online pubs is quality writing. Writers and Editors have more time to craft their work.

Online Pubs are only good for news snippets. Long live print!

Chris Mack @ Nov 20th 2008 10:18PM

I know that in this day and age video game news is pretty much instantaneous because of the internet but I still enjoy getting my game mags in the mail. I mean, what else am I going to read while in the bathroom? Lol!

Plus, I've been a subscriber to EGM since 1991! (Some of you probably werent even born then!) Anyways, the problem with EGM for lackluster readership is the magazine just isn't as "cool" as GameInformer. Yes, GI has a deal with Gamestop which really helps push it out to new readers but the size of the GI's magazine is better too. I like the bigger pics.

Back in the day, EGM had a cool, mysterious reviewer named sushi-x. Bring him back!

The mag also used to be this huge 200 to 400 page "book" that I was proud to read over and over again just to get my fix.

I'd rather read a game mag then a game site. Its like, would you rather read an online strategy guide or do you find a guide book at your side more preferable. Maybe it depends on the person but I look forward to my mag each month.

Please, oh please EGM, don't go the way of the dodo!