Electronic Gaming Monthly... Is it DEAD?

[spoonman]

I haven't even received an issue from EGM since mid-2011 and nothing on my resub.. I guess I should demand a refund or something since I never use the web version.

They just keep adding issues to my (imaginary) subscription.. I'm into mid 2013 now for my expiration date. Which would be fine if they ACTUALLY SENT ANYTHING!!

I was just curious if anyone is getting hard copies of EGM anymore. I had to buy the last 3 from eBay.

[E-Day]

After renewing my subscription last summer, I finaly got my first issue of the new subscription in January. Apparently they have not been printing enough issues or were behind in printing enough...come to think of it, I should be getting another one in the mail soon. The magazine has gone bi-monthly, so they should come every other month.

I had to email their customer service people a couple of times to find out what was going on. they didn't even know the magazine switched to bi-monthly. They are still taking subscriptions on their website. I suggest you write to them and ask why you have no received anything yet. Your expiration date should actually now by 2014 since you haven't gotten anything yet, and it will take 2 years to get the 12 issues of your subscription.

[spoonman]

After renewing my subscription last summer, I finaly got my first issue of the new subscription in January. Apparently they have not been printing enough issues or were behind in printing enough...come to think of it, I should be getting another one in the mail soon. The magazine has gone bi-monthly, so they should come every other month.

I had to email their customer service people a couple of times to find out what was going on. they didn't even know the magazine switched to bi-monthly. They are still taking subscriptions on their website. I suggest you write to them and ask why you have no received anything yet. Your expiration date should actually now by 2014 since you haven't gotten anything yet, and it will take 2 years to get the 12 issues of your subscription.

I emailed them (egm@emailcustomerservice.com & support@egmnow.net ) and all I get is the generic response now:

Please do not reply to this message.

We have received your recent email message and will process your request promptly.

We will contact you further only if we need additional information.

Thank you,

Subscriber Services Department

EGM

But they never send an actual reply! Great customer service.

I think they've ended their magazine. In fact Steve Harris used to reply to my emails and he stopped as well.

At this point I hope they've canceled it.

There is no use dragging out a death like this. They should refund people's money and certainly STOP taking new paid subscriptions ASAP.

[E-Day]

I actually got replies on more than one occasion from them. I don't know what is going on over there. They said they were going bi-monthly because they wanted to concentrate on their web site and digital version. Their site is up to date except for the current issue box on the left, and EGMi seems to be up to date. But their magazine is due to have an issue this month, and I have yet to see it in stores.

[spoonman]

I actually got replies on more than one occasion from them. I don't know what is going on over there. They said they were going bi-monthly because they wanted to concentrate on their web site and digital version. Their site is up to date except for the current issue box on the left, and EGMi seems to be up to date. But their magazine is due to have an issue this month, and I have yet to see it in stores.

I finally received a reply:

We apologize for the delay in responding to your email. We had contacted our home office regarding your missing issues.

We have requested a replacement March/April 2012 issue be sent to you. We have also requested a copy of the

January/February 2012 issue be sent to you, as we have now received additional stock.

They should arrive within 2-3 weeks. Please contact us again if we can be of any further assistance.

Thank you for subscribing to Electronic Gaming Monthly.

I'm not totally sure if that's true though.

They've said this before and then later changed it to adding an issue to my subscription so I'm not holding my breath.

[E-Day]

I haven't even seen the March/April issue in the stores yet. Since it's the end of March, I would assume it should have been out for a few weeks now. I haven't received it yet either.

[MetalFRO]

I haven't read EGM in years - has it been any good in the last couple years? During the 90's when I was reading game mags, EGM always seemed to be a lot of style over substance, and they fell victim to the industry rumor mill more often than the other mags, from what I remember. Did they improve over time? After I stopped reading VG&CE (when Andy Eddy left), I didn't subscribe to or read another gaming mag seriously until my GameStop subscription came.

[Bentendo24]

EGM just never received too many exclusives. GameInformer, while not that great of a magazine, is notable in that developers love to reveal games through them. And who could blame them with a circulation in the millions?

[marciolresende]

That was a good mag.

[KiwiArcader]

Everyone's speaking like they have folded already. Nothing I've heard suggests that has happened yet. However, when print run's are late etc it certainly looks like a cashflow problem which if you are a subscriber isn't a good sign. It's relatively cheap to put out a digital mag but printing is a different matter entirely. Let's just hope it doesn't come to that.

What they do need to do is get their finger out and get their print run on the App stores and for reasonable prices as the nostalgia factor due to emulation has never been higher and there are plenty of people who would pay a couple of bucks per issue to both support them and to obtain legal versions of their mags. I sure would. Those EGMi versions might have flashy video etc but don't hold a candle to the print versions.

[E-Day]

EGM isn't dead. They may be bogged down with everything they are trying to do, but they are still going. I know they were talking about getting their entire run scanned for the App Store, but no mention has been made lately. building their site has probably taken up a lot of their time. But there is no indication that they are faltering. The most recent issue was quite good, actually. Better than the ones from the previous year.

[KiwiArcader]

Yeah .... no sign of any print issues on the App Store as yet. It IS a worry when they miss print issue deadlines though so is it any wonder that subscribers start to have concerns?

[E-Day]

I am not aware of them missing any print deadlines. I got my issue last week, which means it should have been on store shelves two to three weeks before that.

[KiwiArcader]

I wonder if retailers are cutting back on them then?

Over here only one or two small retailers I know get EGM. All the bigger ones sell Playstation & Xbox 360 this and that, Nintendo this and that and sod all else. Even Games tm and Retrogamer only show up in one or two smaller stores and then only 1 or 2 copies at best. That's partly why I am getting them digitally on iPad now, that and the fact they are 1/4 to 1/5th the price of the print version.

[cdfru472]

It's really funny that I *thought* EGM was dead, looked them up after reading an old gem from this site and *then* thought they were back, and *Now* it seems they *are* actually in the process of dying... so much back and forth. And to think they used to publish 2 successful mags parallel to each other...

[MusicInc]

really interesting that they can forget that sorta thing....these days....

ooooh...we didn't know our own magazine was going bi-monthly da da da duh... that's new to me. wow they are completely clueless at EGM then.

[DoctorPoo]

One of the Digital EGM issues on ipad mentioned that they are planning on changing the format and then making back issues available. I haven't seen anything about it since, though. I still want a digital copy of issue 100, 150, and 200.

[Phillyman]

I am really going to be mad if EGM is done with. First I had a subscription good until 2014, then they closed up shop. Then maybe 2-3 months ago, I subscribed to RetroGamer, Nintendo Power and EGM all within a week or so of each other. I have received 2 issues of Nintendo Power and RetroGamer so far.......but no sign of EGM! If they are done again, I want my money refunded! I will not accept a transfer to some other magazine, as that's BS at this point.

[spoonman]

I am really going to be mad if EGM is done with. First I had a subscription good until 2014, then they closed up shop. Then maybe 2-3 months ago, I subscribed to RetroGamer, Nintendo Power and EGM all within a week or so of each other. I have received 2 issues of Nintendo Power and RetroGamer so far.......but no sign of EGM! If they are done again, I want my money refunded! I will not accept a transfer to some other magazine, as that's BS at this point.

Hey man.

They eventually ended up sending me the Mar/Apr '12 issue, but now I'm left wondering yet again if there is going to be another issue for May/June.

Their customer support is pretty non-existent.

I'm in the same boat as you. I had issues remaining on the last EGM sub, and I have a strong feeling the same will happen here since I am renewed until late 2014.

I used to talk to Steve Harris on a pretty regular basis. He first contacted me to ask if he could use all of my cover scans, which of course I let him.. How could I not?!

He has seemed to disappeared from Facebook and email which is never a good sign. The printed mags are falling like dominoes, and with the Kindle Fire and iPad selling in record numbers, I think the printed magazine's fate is sealed.

So has anyone spotted a May/June EGM hard copy yet?

I emailed customer support, but of course they haven't replied (Other than the standard generated reply)

[ctophil]

So has anyone spotted a May/June EGM hard copy yet?

I emailed customer support, but of course they haven't replied (Other than the standard generated reply)

I'm still looking for my May/June issue in the mail. Usually, it gets here mid-month. For example, the last issue (March/April) got here around March 14. It's way past that now. So who knows. The EGM print edition may be dead at this point. Their egmnow.com and egmmag.com web sites are still up. But the online mag (egmmag.com) has stopped coming out since March. That used to be a weekly deal. Then it went monthly. Now it's a no show for a couple of months. I had high hopes for EGM's comeback. But not looking good anymore. Game Informer is the only old magazine left (mags that came out in the 1990s or late 1980s) due to Gamestop's takeover. Otherwise, it would be dead too.

Seems like the UK video game magazine market is getting larger though (Edge, Retrogamer, and system specific ones). All high quality productions. I will update if I get in my May/June 2012 issue of EGM.

[ctophil]

Game Informer is the only old magazine left (mags that came out in the 1990s or late 1980s) due to Gamestop's takeover. Otherwise, it would be dead too.

I take that back. Nintendo Power is still around. But it is no longer being published by Nintendo themselves (now by Future US). So I feel it's not the same.

[spoonman]

I take that back. Nintendo Power is still around. But it is no longer being published by Nintendo themselves (now by Future US). So I feel it's not the same.

Hopefully NP continues for a while. I'm subscribed through 2016 (back since 2004). I highly doubt they would offer any type of refund on that if it were canceled.

Retro Gamer is a decent magazine. It has a bit more computer coverage (Spectrum, Amstrad, etc..) than I care for.

I would prefer less of that and more arcade game history, but that's only because I never owned those.

[E-Day]

It would be sad if EGM went under again, especially after some of the changes they made in the last issue. All the changes were great, adding some old school flair to the magazine. Now that it's finally gotten good, I would hate to see it go.

[ctophil]

So has anyone spotted a May/June EGM hard copy yet?

I emailed customer support, but of course they haven't replied (Other than the standard generated reply)

Great news! I got my May/June EGM issue today! I haven't read it yet. But at least there is still hope that EGM is still alive. I have been a subscriber since 1990 and never missed an issue (other than the time EGM closed down for a year). So no one would be more sad than me if they shut down again.

[spoonman]

Great news! I got my May/June EGM issue today! I haven't read it yet. But at least there is still hope that EGM is still alive. I have been a subscriber since 1990 and never missed an issue (other than the time EGM closed down for a year). So no one would be more sad than me if they shut down again.

Thanks for letting us know. At this point I'm not sure if it's good news or not..

To be honest I would be happier if I received an issue of EGM with the cover saying "THIS IS IT... THE LAST ISSUE OF EGM" with a check for the remaining issues they owe me.

No offense to any of the reviewers or other people that work for the mag (well, maybe the jerks working the email who rarely reply to an email), but I hate having a 1 out of 10 chance of receiving

something that I have clearly paid for in advance. It's not right for them to do that. You don't go to the store and buy a book and flip a coin to see if you can leave the store with it.. Actually those odds are better than receiving an EGM in the mail.

I'm mainly still buying EGM because I don't want to have a 99.9% complete collection, but really I can live without all of the grief. It's not worth it.