GamePro magazine says farewell
(CBS) - After 22-years in the business, GamePro magazine announced that they will be closing up shop on Dec. 5.
The team posted this statement on the website.
"Thank you for your loyalty, support, and participation in the GamePro.com community. At noon on December 5, 2011, the U.S. version of GamePro online will shut down as an independent site. GamePro will become part of PCWorld.com, offering gaming news, reviews, and how-tos from the PCWorld team. Thank you to the entire GamePro staff for their hard work and dedication."
In July, the magazine went from a monthly magazine to a quarterly. Unfortunately, that model didn't work.
"Ad dollars just weren't there, and unfortunately layoffs of staff are being implemented," an IDG spokesperson told IndustryGamers. There is no official count of who is being laid off and who is being folded into PC World, but a source close to the matter has told me that most, if not all, of the staff will be laid off. As far as I know, no one is moving over to PC World.
From what it sounds like, GamePro will shift to be a more business-to-business solution, publishing event-based magazines. GamePro's current president, Marci Yamaguchi Hughes, will be at the helm of a new venture into custom publishing. IDG will maintain ownership of the brand.
"We did our best to make the best content we could, but unfortunately it wasn't our call to shut down the magazine," reviews editor Will Herring told me over the phone. As a matter of fact, they doubled their web traffic over the last year and were doing quite well.
I heard from a staffer that GamePro's sales team was let go and ad sales shifted to PC World and MacWorld, which are both consumer electronics magazines. The staffer speculated that a technology-based sales team wasn't equipped to work in the ecosystem of the video game world.
GamePro magazine's first issue was published in May 1989. It was one of the first national video game magazines. At the height of its popularity, it was the No. 1 young men's magazine, over Sports Illustrated. Its final issue will be in Nov.
On a personal note, I was the copy editor at GamePro from 2006 to 2008. It was incredibly difficult to see the staff deteriorate over the years to handle the decline of print media.
Thanks for the memories, GamePro. I would've never delved into Halo or Counter-Strike without you guys. I wish you all the best of luck. Oh, and my handle? Rebel Princess.
