As you’re no doubt aware by now, UGO (owned by Hearst) has bought 1UP.com from Ziff Davis. EGM, the venerable gaming mag, is no more, with the upcoming February issue set to be its last. Well played, Hearst.
While TechCrunch mentioned the nuts and bolts of the deal, it doesn’t really grasp its spirit. That is to say regular readers of 1UP and EGM are completely pissed. Hearst cut 30 (or 40; the number fluctuates depending on whom you ask) jobs from the 1UP+EGM staff, while its own gaming site, the unsophisticated UGO, lists the new 1UP+UGO partnership as the “best duo since Toe Jame and Earl.” See, that’s funny because Toe Jam and Earl is an old video game duo and the new 1UP+UGO… Oh, whatever. It’s awful.
Sam Kennedy, 1UP’s editor, posted on the NeoGAF forums asking fans not to harsh too hardly on UGO. 1UP, as you knew it, was not going to continue in this economy; it was losing money and Ziff Davis needed to sell it. While UGO may come across a little too sophomric for my liking—a video game “lifestyle” site with a “hot chicks” section just strikes me as lowest common denominator silliness—Kennedy says both sites acknowledge the awfulness of the whole situation. Basically, don’t hate UGO for the sake of it; everyone’s trying hard to make this work.
That said, thirty 1UP/EGM employees are now gone, and EGM is dead. Early word is that the 1UP podcasts are done, too. (Shame, I was a big fan of Retronauts.) Sad news all around.
Damn. I really loved EGM, and had a subscription to it for a good eight years.
I guess I’m part of the problem, though. I canceled my subscription a few years back. One thing’s for sure, the internet is killing print media. As much as I loved EGM (it was a fun read) I couldn’t justify spending money on a magazine, when I already knew everything in it before I opened it up. It got the the point that I wasn’t even taking the magazines out of their bags.
Admittedly, I don’t really game anymore, either. Marriage has a way of killing off that hobby.
As for 1UP. I never thought it was a very good gaming site, anyway. IGN has a much better layout, way easier to navigate.
I do agree, though. This is very sad news. I spent many hours, as a teenager and kid, thumbing through EGM. I used to read it cover to cover, every month.
EGM was, truly, a great magazine, and one of the only good gaming rags.
Another childhood memory dead. Maybe it’s time to get rid of all my back issues.
So now we’re being critical of TechCrunch, are we? Don’t make me tell Michael.
;)
You guys left out the “freaked out gamers” angle, which is our core constituency. Semper Fi!
This truly sucks. I really love listening to the 1upyours podcast – and I don’t even play video games! I hope those guys can find a way to still get together and podcast as they have great chemistry.
I really never liked the 1up podcasts anyway. the every other saturday show on eosempire.com is way better…
what would happen to my rest of my subscription
EGM JUST AUTOMATICALLY CHARGED TO MY CREDIT CARD A NEW SUBSCRIPTION FOR 2009. I WAS KINDA UPSET,THEY AUTOMATICALLY JUST CHARGED MY CARD FROM A PRIOR ORDER. BUT SINCE MY SON LIKED IT SO MUCH I DIDNT CONTACT EGM AND COMPLAIN.
IT WAS A GIFT FOR HIM, I STARTED 2 YEARS AGO.
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE MONEY. NOW I’M REALLY UPSET THEY TOOK THE MONEY AND RAN…
same thing happened to me..i want my money back.
I was about to contact them because I haven’t seen a new magazine in a few months…this sucks…I’ve been reading for 12 or 13 years now…I just resubscribed too…guess that money is gone…
damn this sucks i been reading since the beginning!! RIP EGM!!
Just got the news today. This sucks. I’ve been reading since issue #51.
I just called the 800 number on the bottom of the january table of contents page for subscription services. they will refund you money and mail you a check.
The 800 number in the January issue is no longer in service. How do you get a refund now?
Thanks
Admit it, we’ve all seen something like this coming. For almost years I had subscriptions to Computer Gaming World and EGM. Then the CGW issue got thinner. They started including console sections and changed their name. Finally they just stopped coming. At least I can say that EGM went out in it’s original form. True to it’s past.
The web is annihilating smaller forms of print media like EGM. It a sad fact but gaming mags just aren’t profitable anymore. That said, I’ll sitll miss the little things; the shame of the month, the Tobias Bruckner award, the foreign object column. It was still a nice read. And it gave us gamers something to put on the coffee table to balance out the Cosmo and People that the roommates put there.
Goodbye EGM. Thanks for the memories.
Woops! I meant “For almost 10 years I had subscriptions” Thought I should fix that before I got burned.
i haven’t got one issue i have paid were are my issuse????
298 geronimo rd. alpena, MI 49707
Except for January 2009, which was printed, and February 2009, which should be online soon, there are no more issues of EGM.
Apparently, there was no “too big to fail” in the gaming magazine niche. How does the #1 Videogaming Magazine get canceled? They should have done online publishing like the February 2009 issue, at least.
It’s like they said Happy 20th Anniversary, now die!
damnit right when i got my subscrition
Beware—My teenage son subscribed to this magazine. We wondered why we hadn’t gotten any issues in recent months. I found out today. In the mail was a “new” magazine with his name on it. Guess what–it was Maxim. They are sending out an adult magazine to their subscribers which I am sure mostly consist of teenagers. The lady from Maxim told me I was about the 150th parent to call this morning. She said her supervisor is working on it. If you get an issue call Maxim, they are very nice, and need to know.
My teenage son also subscribed to this EGM and I wondered why Maxim started showing up. I called Maxim to cancel not knowing it was substituted for EGM. How do I get a refund now? Maxim just said they would cancel.
Good luck on getting a valid refund on your son’s subscription. When we got the first issue with a sticker telling us that it was being sent as a replacement for EGM and saying that if we didn’t want it we could get a pro-rated refund, we did so immediately. Just last week we got a refund check and deposited to our bank account. Imagine our surprise when we got an NSF notice from the bank for that check!! I’m guessing that Maxim is probably going to end up going under too if they’re that short on cash that they can’t cover a $16.80 check.
I’m not sure if we’re going to both pursuing this further. Finding a phone number for their customer service is like finding a needle in a haystack. And if they reissue me another bouncy check, what good is all that hassle?