Well, we lost a good one today, Games For Windows Magazine, was rolled up into 1up’s online coverage. The question has to be asked, is print in serious trouble long term? I mean obviously it’s not over today; it won’t be over tommorrow but is this just the vanguard of seeing more and more publications throwing a for sale sign up on their print presence.
GFW wasn’t your ordinary magazine, it was the most recent titling of a magazine that was 27 years old. In computer games magazines that’s forever. While it was founded in 1981 it’s oldest competitor was founded in 1994. After a few years of reading them, I’ll definitely be missing the glossy pages every month even if i read them online.
It could just be that PC gamers are likely to be online saavy in the first place, and so it doesn’t make sense to cater to them in a print publication, and it could just be that the zero minute nature of news just makes magazines more and more difficult, especially in this era in which everyone has a scanner, but I think it’s something more than that.
Personally I think it’s more about the changing nature of media in general. It’s just really difficult to give me a reason to want to pay for information when there is so much good information available for free. And even if you can get me to do it–GFW did by creating fantastic content that was more focused on being the last word rather than the first word, that doesn’t mean you can get as many people as you can for free.
The Wall Street Journal seems to be able to maintain a pay-for model on the net, but most other publications won’t be able to either.
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