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

by Randy Nelson on Nov 20th 2008 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.

Source

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

Reader Comments (68)

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

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

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

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.

im a bookworm poo'er too!

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.

Were doomed to corporate mediocre...

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

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?

What ever will I read on the toilet!

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

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

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.

"I find Chekov's short stories entertaining"

Did he ever find the Nukular wessels een Alemeeda?

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

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.

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.

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.

Dude, Game Informer is owned by Gamestop.

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

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

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.

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

Tada!

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.

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

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.

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.

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?

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

"James" Young?

Really?

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.

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.

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

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!

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!

xbox360achievements.org is the only strategy guide I need.

I thought 1up.com was the online version of EGM.

Yea,very sad to see it go, but GI really is a great mag-long as they don't chinch up on the pages e.g. [cough],,, XBOX mag,,, [cough]

I still have a subscription to this for some reason (I don't think I'm paying for it) and I really won't be all that sad to see it go. I know I got an issue last week, but it was so generic I can't remember a thing about it.

Going online is just living death, especially when they already have 1UP or whoever their online persona is.

Print media is dying, why should anyone be suprised?

am i the only one who doesn't take half an hour to poo or something

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

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