The Recession Depression is real, ladies and gentlemen. After months of rumors, the word has come direct from the source that after nearly 20 years EGM, Electronic Gaming Monthly, will be discontinued as a publication with its January 2009 issue being its last. AND the website the people behind EGM created 5 years ago, 1UP.com, has been bought by competitor UGO Entertainment (part of the Hearst Corporation's family of media entities). Both moves are the end result of their former owner's, publishing company Ziff-Davis, Inc., financial strain in the aftermath of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy March 5th of last year (which was no doubt aggravated by the overall bleak economic climate and steady decline of the total print industry in general). In consequence, the entire staff of EGM, most of the staff behind 1UP Networks' GameVideos.com, and all of the crew behind the 4 year running 1UP Show (all groups a total of about 30 employees) will not be included in the transition and thus are laid off.
More sadness to follow...
UGO Entertainment will take the rest of 1UP Networks' family of websites including MyCheats.com, GameTab.com along with 1UP.com and GameVideos.com. However, FileFront.com will stay behind with Ziff-Davis Media as part of its own PCMag Digital Network. Details of the media group purchase price are not yet known to the public or press. Originating in 1997 as Unified Gamers Online, it changed its initialism to UnderGround Online as it broadened its scope to multiple fields of entertainment (music, movies, TV, comic books, etc.) getting larger and larger in the process eventually being bought and absorbed into the monstrous Hearst Corporation (of the William Randolph variety) on July 24, 2007.
Now to put on the happy face on a sad situation, here are some various quotes from the suits and ties type folks (and someone without the stuffed shirt):
Jason Young, Chief Executive Officer of Ziff-Davis Media:
"We believe this is a smart transaction for Ziff Davis Media that places these market leading assets and teams in a great environment poised for further success. The transaction allows us to pay down debt and shift our full focus to our core PCMag Digital Network business. We thank our 1UP team members for their contributions and wish them the best of success into the future."
J Moses, Chief Executive Officer of UGO Entertainment:
"Since we started UGO 11 years ago, we have served the gamer community and built a world-class online publishing platform. The acquisition of 1UP, with its authentic voice, tenured editorial personalities and bustling user community, allows us to expand our base of quality content and represents a major step forward in UGO's mission to become the leader in the games space."
Sam Kennedy, Editorial Director and Creator of 1UP:
"We are extremely excited to join the UGO team. Relying on UGO's publishing platform will allow us to focus on what we do best: creating great content and 'owning the conversation' among gamers through our unique, authentic and definitive voice and community."
Matt Chandronait AKA 1UPShowMatt of The 1UP Show:
"...What can I say? This has been the best job I've ever had. You all have been the beast audience we could ever have asked for. I've poured more of my life and soul into this job and this show than I could ever have thought and the ROI was absolutely worth it. I inherited The 1UP Show and before I was Producer/Editor/SoundGuy/Popmaker/Crappy-Actor and god knows what else, I was the show's biggest fan. I still think it's the best gaming TV/Video Podcast that's ever existed and you had better believe this isn't the end of us even if it is the end of The 1UP Show. The future is a dark and scary and I have no idea what's going to happen but we're not going to just fade quietly away.
To all my friends here at 1UP, those staying and those going away, you are the best bunch of people I could ever have hoped to work with and the inspiration I've garnered simply by being in your presence can never be returned in kind. My love, my heart, and my sincerely felt best wishes to each and every one of you..."
As for me personally, whatever form 1UP.com and its associated sites take in its new corporate casing, I'm sad about the doing away with EGM. Bought it right out of the supermarket about 12 years ago (in 1997) when they had a 100 Greatest Games of All Time list—their 100th issue if I'm not mistaken. Actually it goes further back than that now that I think about it. I remember buying a 1990 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly with "Super Mario Bros. 4" as the cover story and it was the first gaming magazine I had ever bought. Only a high school student with occassional allowances, I didn't really buy many magazines only buying sparse issues of GamePro, GamePlayers, Tips and Tricks, and Computer and VideoGames (usually with Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat or something on the cover) after I graduated in '94. It was not until that 100th EGM issue that I really started buying game magazines on a regular basis and to EGM I was a most faithful buyer. From them I began to learn more about the industry behind the Oz curtain. Seeing the industry as both one who buys the games and one who has some inkling of what gears the business.
Seeing the madcap atmosphere of the site glazed with a sober understanding of the gaming biz, I began to love listening to the mysterious Sushi-X and Quartermann along with the growing diverse cast of game reviewers including Dan "Shoe" Hsu, Crispin Boyer, John Ricciardi, among so many others. Plus you gotta love The Adventures of Hsu and Chan! The editorials, stories, and reviews were professional and done with usually deliberate thought. Plus there seemed to be sense of family there that added to the fun. While I was never commanded by anybody's opinion but my own as to the merits of a game, I respected their reviews which gave weight to any purchase I may had been considering trying out. As the PlayStation 2 era began to pick up power I slowly faded from my game mag buying ways (job changes and subsequent belt-tightening also had something to do with that) but EGM had long earned a deep reverence with me that lasts to this day.
Today, I shed a tear for founder Steve Harris' tribute in print to the wondrous world of games.
Thanks always to Gamasutra.com, Matt Chandronait from the 1UP Show, and, of course, 1UP.com.
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