PaidContent.org reports EGM's death, pulls story [update]

by Justin McElroy { Jan 6th 2009 at 5:45PM }

Update: As you can see here, it's official.

Earlier today, media business site paidContent.org reported that video game media hub 1UP had been sold to Hearst (which runs competing hub UGO), and that the organization would be shuttering Electronic Gaming Monthly. You may remember that we reported that both moves were under discussion last month. PaidContent's report has since been pulled, but the full details were related by former 1UPer John Davison's What They Play. WTP then reported that sources had told them that the story would be validated or denied tomorrow.

If this is on the level (and we have no reason to think it's not), it's a sad day for fans of video game magazines and game journalism in general. If it comes to pass, here's hoping everyone affected lands on their feet.

Tags: 1up, BreakingNews, egm, JS-Twitter, ugo

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

shane86 @ Jan 6th 2009 5:53PM

Another gaming mag bites the dust :*(

Meg P @ Jan 15th 2009 6:11PM

unfortunately I think they had it coming :( ...the mag just kept getting smaller and smaller

C.A. @ Jan 6th 2009 6:01PM

I agree 100%. That magazine used to be glorious, now every time I read it it makes me sad for them.

Jezreel @ Jan 6th 2009 6:01PM

Now what am I gonna read on the crapper...

J-Link @ Jan 6th 2009 6:02PM

Playboy

C.A. @ Jan 6th 2009 6:03PM

Read Wired. It's cool and you'll learn useful stuff.

arkweld @ Jan 6th 2009 6:05PM

it's inevitable. All gaming mags are going to die.

Pretty much everyone who plays video games has internet access. When you have that you don't want to wait a month to find out if a game sucks or not when you can get a review same day of release or within a week from reputable sites.

Temidien @ Jan 6th 2009 6:15PM

I know it's hard to believe, but some of us read the magazines for more than the reviews... I've spent many an hour sitting on my toilet drooling over the eye candy in EGM and reading their editorials. While it's true most fans read reviews online (it's so much faster how can you not?) reading the printed impressions help flesh out alternate opinions and allow for a little hindsight in critiquing games.

I guess I'll finally get around to reading The Alphabet of Manliness and Colbert's book on the toilet...

Ryan LN @ Jan 6th 2009 6:19PM

Lots of things are inevitable, like the death of your parents and Cincinnati sports teams sucking, but it doesn't make it any less sad. R.I.P. EGM- now I won't buy you because I can't.

Sora @ Jan 6th 2009 7:09PM

Alphabet of Manliness is a GREAT read. =D

arkweld @ Jan 7th 2009 4:08AM

I agree. You don't have to boot up a magazine but it's the way things are now. PC Mag died last month.

Internet killed the magazine.

Moptimus Slime @ Jan 6th 2009 6:15PM

Seanbaby, what happened? SEANBABY?

SEEEEEAAAANNNNNNBBAAAAAAABBBBBBBY!

gamer4250 @ Jan 6th 2009 6:18PM

I wasn't aware that anybody still used subscribed to these magazines, Kotaku and Joystiq easily give you more information. The sooner they're eliminated the better. That way all the exclusive articles will go to websites and be put out in the public sooner :)

gamer4250 @ Jan 6th 2009 6:18PM

Still used or subscribed to*

I don't know what's up today, I can't even write a simple comment :|

J-Link @ Jan 6th 2009 6:24PM

I udnerstand what you're saying as we can get news much faster but you dont really want game mags to die, do you? I mean game mags were are first taste of news from the industry and there's something about reading a magazine that is so fun sometimes.

Temidien @ Jan 6th 2009 6:40PM

Wow, we should burn all our books and convert everything to pdfs then!

I mean think about it, we can download pdfs faster than it would take to drive to a bookstore and writers would write exclusively for free online. It'd be great! Gee, I hope the power doesn't go out and I'm stuck holding my dick and a powerless laptop.

Sora @ Jan 6th 2009 7:10PM

Why would you be holding your dick while reading a gaming magazine in PDF form...?

Doug @ Jan 6th 2009 7:16PM

the "eye candy"

Heblevi @ Jan 6th 2009 6:35PM

I understand when everyone says that you can get so much more information online much faster, but that's not why people read magazines like EGM. It had such rich editorial content and features and so much more that you don't see as much in the news blogs. I know that i can find a lot of content like that online, but there is always something special and different about a magazine. I find myself much more likely to read an article that may not interest me at first than one online. The whole instant gratification style of the internet makes sitting down and reading extremely long articles fairly boring, most people have probably stopped reading this comment it has gotten so long. I am a big fan of 1up and EGM and I am really sad to see it go.

Thatoneguy64 @ Jan 6th 2009 6:35PM

If this is true it'll be a sad day. I really enjoy reading EGM, and really like the guys at both EGM and 1UP.

I hope the site stays together if it gets bought. Losing EGM won't be quite so bad, I'll just lose my main reading material when away from home (like at school, etc.). The EGM writers will (hopefully) all just go to 1UP, so we (should) still have the same editorial content; just online instead of in print form.

I just hope that the writers do transfer to 1UP; I'd hate to see anyone lose their job from this.

whymog @ Jan 6th 2009 6:36PM

EGM aspired to be more than a news and reviews publication. They dig deeper into the gaming world and have produced some features of unparalleled quality.

Many gaming enthusiasts (like myself) read Joystiq and Kotaku to stay up-to-date, but EGM aspired to be an enduring contribution to the gaming world with each issue. It was far from perfect, but EGM tried harder than anyone else to become a publication of historic and journalistic value. I sincerely hope the EGM staff migrates to 1UP and continues to deliver the same quality of content, but I'm also afraid that most gamers are either too jaded or too disinterested to care.

Cutty @ Jan 6th 2009 6:37PM

When you can get the high-quality editorial features and articles of GamesTM and Edge on the Internet, I'll stop caring about gaming magazines. Until then, they're still an excellent read. Contrary to what some of you think, we don't buy magazines purely for review scores.

whymog @ Jan 6th 2009 6:41PM

Well said.

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Jan 6th 2009 6:43PM

This. I'm tired of gamers condemning entire game magazines simply because: WAAAAH I DON'T AGREE WITH THEIR REVIEWS!!!

Personally I like reading all the previews in my GI subscription. That, and the covers are usually pretty damn awesome.

Alucard @ Jan 6th 2009 6:39PM

Damn. I remember when that was THE place to learn any video game news. (I always thought Gamepro sucked)

I wish they would have kept the same content, but replaced the mulit-page "preview" stories with in-depth articles about classic games and their creation.

As others have said, the size of each issue continued to dwindle. I'll never forget the gigantic December issues in the mid 90's.

Damn you Sushi-X!!! You could have saved them!!

geekinabox @ Jan 6th 2009 6:48PM

Semi-confirmation from 1up itself:
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3172156

"You may have heard the rumors in the past, but today the announcement we?ve all been waiting for has officially come: UGO Entertainment and parent Hearst Corporation have acquired 1UP and its associated sites GameVideos.com, MyCheats.com, and GameTab.com. 1UP and its sites now join UGO's network of gaming properties that will reach over 40 million monthly unique visitors."

Still unclear with what happens to the various print/online properties.

YouKnowImRight @ Jan 6th 2009 7:14PM

The only people who will read a videogame magazine instead of going on the net for the news are the same people buying a Wii and DS. Last time I checked an EGM, those were the 2 systems most ignored. I'm shocked EGM would go under (roll my eyes).

Mr Khan @ Jan 6th 2009 7:26PM

Yeah, they drifted away from Nintendo coverage from 2007 onward, but if you held it against them, you'd be shunning pretty much every console-agnostic group out there. No-one resisted the urge to capitalize on the growing anti-Nintendo resentment

Mr Khan @ Jan 6th 2009 7:21PM

I can't speak for where EGM went, but i acquired a 1-year run of theirs from 2001-2002 somehow, and quite liked their content back then

I find it hard to believe they're related to 1up. EGM was generally high-class, 1up is one of the root problems with gaming media

PS36Wii Fanboy @ Jan 6th 2009 7:21PM

That's harsh man, I read EGM ever since the 90s, and I believed it was a great magazine. I mean this magazine was the one that stood up to certain racist videogame companies(Ubisoft) and said, whatever when they threatened blackballing, though sadly it all went downhill when Hsu left. I pray EGM will stay, but if not, I will deeply miss it(I'll miss you fake lookalike of Sonic the Hedgehog, Seanbaby, and milkman "cries")

Anis @ Jan 6th 2009 7:27PM

According to this, January 09 issue was last one for EGM.

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=21759

PS36Wii Fanboy @ Jan 6th 2009 7:32PM

Augh! That's horrible. Well at least Gamestop didn't buy it out.. "cries" I am most worried about gamevideos at the moment, since that was the thing other than EGM I would look at, but oh well, I guess all I have left are my other electronic..."GASP" I have no PCmag too!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey least OXM and NP are still alive though sadly no PSM :(