R.I.P. GFW Magazine

[Alex Blonski]

We've all seen the signs. Bankruptcy, closures, and the declaration of the death of print.

Now GFW is closing its doors to become an online-exclusive publication.

Is it time to put video and computer game magazines on deathwatch? Have these magazine been replaced in the public eye by gaming blogs or is there still room for print-based gaming content?

[Jeremy Hill]

I believe there is always going to be room for magazines. The industry is defiantly in a transitional period right now, and digital journalism seems to be the way to go. Magazines have the task of learning how to adapt to these changes to survive. However, there is nothing like picking up a magazine, sitting in a comfy chair, and reading from cover to cover. It's got a nostalgic sense to it. GFW probably experienced hardships due to the growing dependence on home consoles. Maybe this is a wake up call for all us magazine lovers to expand our support.

[Nathan Grayson]

Thing is, I actually think GFW did an excellent job of adapting to this blog-driven age, but that only held off the Reaper for so long. People don't need magazines for news anymore, and GFW's long, thought-provoking articles, while excellent, only appealed to a certain sect of gamers. Unfortunately, I don't see many other ways to evolve the magazine format into something that compliments blogs and websites.

[Eugene Neubronner]

Damn. I knew it was coming in the "I sorta hope this isn't just that nacho I ate last night acting up" way but... damn.

This makes you wonder how smaller countries can compete or carve out a niche for themselves when even the big boys can't do it.

It does not fill me with confidence when I finally turn full-time next year. *sighs*

[Brendan Sinclair]

There's still some room. Game Informer and its nearly 3 million circulation (!) seems to be doing fine, and if you read blogs you might have noticed how frequently GI still breaks the news on big game announcements. Since it's all advertising driven online or in print, you can survive as long as you attract a certain number of eyeballs.

One could even make the argument that as the industry matures, gamers will get older and more discerning about their media tastes, at which point they'll want the sort of in-depth and meaty features that work best in print. That could then offset some of the across-the-board decline being suffered by anything print right now, and make enough of a niche for magazines to inhabit in perpetuity.

I don't really buy into that myself; I'm just saying someone could make the argument.

[Eugene Neubronner]

The problem is getting to that critical "mature" age.

CGW has been around long enough that its initial audience should, theoretically, be hitting that old codger age by now (late 20's, 30's or so) to appreciate that. Apparently, they're not buying.

[Pat 'iTZKooPA' Mulhern]

I agree, I feel as if a good portion of gamers should already be in their older stages to benefit from such a transition. But believe it or not, I am one of those people and prefer the online magazines (<3 Escapist) and such rather than the print.

I just can't stand the 100 page magazine only have 30 pages of material in it. And all those stupid sign-up forms...Pet peeve of mine I guess. At least on the web it is just white-noise that you don't really have to deal with.

Brendan, why do you feel that print does better with the meaty articles (not sure if that was one of the statements you buy into or just proposed)? Is it the pretty layouts and overlays?

[Brendan Sinclair]

Layout's a big part of it. Layout is an art, and like writing, there are about a dozen different ways to go about solving any given problem with it. It makes things more readable, like the evolution of the paragraph break. And when you want readers to plow through a 2,000-word essay, you really need to shape the look of the article around the content to make it work best. In print, the page is a blank canvas and you can shape the text as creatively as you would like. Online, you're strictly limited in what you can do and how you can play with art and text. The Escapist used to have an interesting way around that (one that it ultimately abandoned), but it was still lacking one of the other big advantages of print.

I can read a magazine in the bathroom, on the couch, in bed, or wherever. I can enjoy the lengthy article whenever and wherever I'm most comfortable or in the most receptive situation to appreciate it. And while you can have a laptop or smartphone anywhere you can have a magazine, I'd say it's not as pleasant, relaxing, or worry-free an experience.

Print just makes for a better reading experience if you're going to be settling in and thinking about something for 20 minutes or more.

[Pat 'iTZKooPA' Mulhern]

Yes I remember Escapist's old layout, I liked it very much. I assume the reason it was abandoned was because they wanted to get more on the page (ads and links to related content).
I wholly agree that page layout is more artful in print, due to less restriction (and lets face it, it is easier to get what you want from print, rather than coding).
For me it really just comes down to personal preference I guess. I hardly ever read the magazine away from my desk, I generally read them while on the computer and just killing time. When I really settle in and want to read for a good length of time, I always reach for a novel or something of that nature.
I don't think print is dead, and I don't believe it ever will die, but I do think they need to try to stay very creative and roll with the punches to continue to be successful. Game Informer manages to do so by constantly breaking big announcements, and they even tease these announcements ahead of the release to get people to run out and by a news stand copy. Smart move I say.

[Adele Caelia]

I don't think it is actually blogs that are driving these companies to bankruptcy, but the overall amount of free information that can be found on the net. More so from actual gaming news sites (IGN, Gamspot, and other sites like these), other online only publications, ect... Not actually from blogs. Many blogs out there that consider themselves gaming blogs aren't actually newsworthy.

It isn't only gaming magazines suffering, but many types of print news outlets. For example, our local newspaper has people out selling their subscriptions, yet you can go to their website and access all the same information for free. Why purchase the print edtition?

Many news companies are now like this, they in some ways hurt themselves, and then again there are other news sites such as CNN.com, ect.. that do not have print issues, but would have the websites with news regardless. This has nothing to do with blogging. It is overall just the availability of free information on the web.

[Troy Goodfellow]

The thing is, many gaming magazines moved on from "news reporting" years ago. GfW went to a more feature heavy format with fewer reviews. Before that, Computer Games Magazine was writing long stories and relying on columns to accompany their reviews. And both those publications went down in in the last 14 months. In my opinion, magazines have adapted to the new "free news everywhere" model just fine.

The thing is, most readers haven't adapted from that expectation. How many websites or newsblogs have features that don't cover the same ground month in and month out? Readers, in America at least, have come to expect their gaming press to be up to the minute consumer reports stuff; what's coming out soon and how good the stuff that's already out is. There's not much incentive to work on anything beyond the quick hit and Diggworthy quote. But that's not because good editors haven't tried to do it.