Electronic Gaming Monthly... Is it DEAD?

[spoonman]

The next issue is being worked on now and is said to be shipping late this month or early June 2016.

Well, obviously that didn't happen.
It's looking like they are working on some deals to get EGM back on the newsstand (and hopefully in the mail as well).

We probably won't see another EGM issue until that's worked out. According to my source at EGM, they are having some difficulty due to the volatility of the magazine market.

So it seems like nothing is publishing until this is all dealt with.

[E-Day]

At this rate my two-year subscription is good until 2021...

[Sean697]

Will the EGM Index ( www.retromags.com/publications/category/united-states/electronic-gaming-monthly ) be updated?

Because the latest issue there dates from 2013...

You can check the database for a more current issue listing with covers.

https://www.retromags.com/magazines/category/usa/electronic-gaming-monthly/?sort_col=field_20&sort_order=asc&per_page=24&st=240#.V3iTDpBpah8

[formisc1]

are they stil printing? i don't see any issues out in bookstores anymore

[spoonman]

are they stil printing? i don't see any issues out in bookstores anymore

According to the senior editor at EGM they are are still active.

Here's what he had to say back in June...

 

 

We are working on some new deals to get EGM on the newsstand.

The volatility of the magazine market has made things challenging, but we are confident we can get something worked out and get back to publishing soon.

[eagerbeaver]

I thank this site for bringing to my attention that EGM still exists in an online capacity. I admit I was simply searching for a nostalgia-trip, but to see them covering current games has me far too excited tonight. Thanks for all the great work uploading these classic magazines.

[gwmac223]

Hey as far as magazines having retrospectives, Retro Gamer has taken that direction.

[XFactor]

The internet made most of the news obsolete.  Old magazines used to do previews and post a few outdated screenshots.

[RYNO]

It a shame to see that this mag/almost all mags have fallen on such hard times. As much as I love the quick access to info via online sites, I still miss the joy of getting a fresh issue in the mail monthly.

[spoonman]

OK, I'm beginning to think that might be it for EGM.
My contact there has not returned my email from 2 weeks ago and he normally does.

 

[E-Day]

They still owe me a bunch of issues, so if they are done, I would like to get my money back. At this point I don't really care if they stop putting out magazines or not. It's been so long since the last one they might as well stop.

[KiwiArcader]

That's why I have no problem making issues up to 2008 available over at OGM (if I had any). They really have shafted subscribers for years so I see no requirement to show them any loyalty in return.

[ctophil]

They still owe me a bunch of issues, so if they are done, I would like to get my money back. At this point I don't really care if they stop putting out magazines or not. It's been so long since the last one they might as well stop.

 

Let's hope they don't convert our subscription to Maxim magazine again.  lol.  Seriously though, the polite thing to do is at least make a special announcement on their web site, egmnow.com, and try to send a postcard to all subscribers that the print division is shutting down.  That's better than making subscribers wait month after month with nothing to look forward to, not even a blip. 

[EGMFan]

Its been a year now since they mailed out any new issues. I sent an e-mail today to a contact I had at EGM (not sure if same contact Spoonman has). I received an auto reply saying the message could not be delivered. I think its safe to say the magazine is done.

[EGMFan]

I was checking the EGM website and got the below message.

Sorry, the following error has occurred:

We are no longer accepting subscriptions for this publication.

At this time we do not know when or if they will be restarted.

Please check with the operators of the site you came from. They may know.

We apologize for any inconvenience.

We are unable to continue processing your request at this time.

The site Webmaster has been notified.

Please try again later.

[E-Day]

They should start issuing refunds to us who are still subscribed.

[kitsunebi]

I've never heard of magazine publishers issuing refunds on partly-filled subscriptions. They always just fill the remaining issues with a substitute of some other mag.

[spoonman]

I've never heard of magazine publishers issuing refunds on partly-filled subscriptions. They always just fill the remaining issues with a substitute of some other mag.

They sometimes do.

Future US issued refunds for remaining Nintendo Power subscription issues, but only if you contacted them within a certain amount of time.

My NP had 3 years left on it so I received a decent check.

 

But Future was still very much in business and Nintendo had a reputation to upkeep where as EGM....

[kitsunebi]

I won't even ask why you were subscribed to Nintendo Power for 4 years in advance (or why you've still got a photo handy of a 4-year old refund check) .  Perhaps the unusual nature of your subscription was the reason for the refund.  It's a simple matter to refund an entire year, which has a set, advertised price, but once you're dealing with partially filled subscriptions (which are almost always just a single year), some customers don't understand why they're getting only a fraction of the missing magazines' cover prices in return (having forgotten that the subscription rate offers significant savings over the cover price).  It's simply easier for customer service to substitute a different mag.

 

But to be completely honest, the main reason they tend to switch your sub to another mag is that they don't want to lose a subscriber, regardless of the magazine, since that means a drop in their circulation numbers.  The higher the circulation, the more they can charge advertisers for ad space.  Some mags have been known to give out free subscriptions just to boost subscriber numbers.  Apparently the extra ad revenue their boosted circulation numbers bring was enough to cover the cost of printing and shipping the mag (or more likely a combination of that and a hope that the free subscriptions would later turn into paid renewals.)

[spoonman]

I won't even ask why you were subscribed to Nintendo Power for 4 years in advance (or why you've still got a photo handy of a 4-year old refund check) .  Perhaps the unusual nature of your subscription was the reason for the refund.  It's a simple matter to refund an entire year, which has a set, advertised price, but once you're dealing with partially filled subscriptions (which are almost always just a single year), some customers don't understand why they're getting only a fraction of the missing magazines' cover prices in return (having forgotten that the subscription rate offers significant savings over the cover price).  It's simply easier for customer service to substitute a different mag.

 

But to be completely honest, the main reason they tend to switch your sub to another mag is that they don't want to lose a subscriber, regardless of the magazine, since that means a drop in their circulation numbers.  The higher the circulation, the more they can charge advertisers for ad space.  Some mags have been known to give out free subscriptions just to boost subscriber numbers.  Apparently the extra ad revenue their boosted circulation numbers bring was enough to cover the cost of printing and shipping the mag (or more likely a combination of that and a hope that the free subscriptions would later turn into paid renewals.)

 

Since you didn't ask I won't answer...

Nintendo used to run an offer where you could get a free Official Nintendo Power Strategy Guide when you purchased a 1 year subscription.

1 Yr subs were $19.95 and the guides were selling for $16.95.

What many people didn't realize is that you could call them and request just about any guide which wasn't shown on the offer, which was usually only showed a choice of 3.

One of them being the Zelda Twilight Princess Guide + OST which counted as just a guide.

At the time those were selling on eBay for anywhere between $20 and $50 each.

So I would buy the subscription, sell the guide, repeat. When they ran out of those I moved onto Zelda Minish Cap which sold for around the same. I also grabbed some guides for my own collection.

 

In 2007 my expiration date was October 2016.

One of the Nintendo reps said I was their longest NP subscriber being subbed from November 1988 until October 1st 2016.

Nintendo Power Subscription History (Past, present, and future NP subscriptions)

November 1988 (v.002) - September 1989 (v.007)

November 1989 (v.008) - August 1990 (v.015)

This subscription came with a FREE gift of a SILVER WING PIN which was shipped on October 20, 1989.

January 1991 (v.020) - December 1991 (v.031)

This subscription came with a FREE gift of a DRAGON WARRIOR GAME PAK which was shipped on November 29, 1990.

January 1992 (v.032) - December 1992 (v.043)

This subscription came with a FREE gift of a BOOKS which was shipped on September 5, 1991.

January 1993 (v.044) - December 1993 (v.055)

December 1993 (v.055) - December 1994 (v.067)

January 1995 (v.068) - December 1995 (v.079)

This subscription came with a FREE gift of a DONKEY KONG COUNTRY PLAYERS GUIDE which was shipped on November 17, 1994.

January 1996 (v.080) - December 1997 (v.103)

This subscription came with a FREE gift of a N64 PREVIEW VIDEO which was shipped on December 26, 1995.

September 2001 (v.148) - September 2004 (v.183)

CONKER'S BFD PG which was shipped on August 20, 2001.

October 2004 (v.184) - September 2005 (v.195)

T-SHIRTS, A.CROSSING/ZELDA:WW which was shipped on April 23, 2003.

October 2005 (v.196) - September 2006 (v.207)

ZELDA COLLECTORS EDITION DISC which was shipped on November 24, 2003

October 2006 (v.208) - September 2007 (v.219)

BUNDLE PAK-ZELDA FOUR SWORDS bundle shipped on June 4, 2004

October 2007 (v.220) - September 2008 (v.231)

METROID ZERO MISSION GUIDE which was shipped on December 19, 2006.

October 2009 (v.244) - September 2010 (v.255)

ZELDA:TP GUIDE & SOUNDTRACK CD which was shipped on April 24, 2007.

October 2010 (v.256) - September 2011 (v.267)

FINAL FANTASY TACTICS ADV PG which was shipped on May 7, 2007.

October 2011 (v.268) - September 2012 (v.279)

ZELDA MINISH CAP GUIDE which was shipped on May 14, 2007.

October 2012 (v.280) - September 2013 (v.291)

ZELDA:TP GUIDE & SOUNDTRACK CD which was shipped on May 23, 2007.

October 2013 (v.292) - September 2014 (v.303)

ZELDA:TP GUIDE & SOUNDTRACK CD which was shipped on May 23, 2007.

October 2014 (v.304) - September 2015 (v.315)

This subscription comes with a FREE gift of a Metroid Prime 2: Echoes GUIDE.

 

October 2015 (v.316) - September 2016 (v.328)

ZELDA:TP GUIDE & SOUNDTRACK CD which was shipped on June 23, 2007

***New expire issue: Oct 1, 2016***

Also, this was posted by Future when they announced the cancellation:

 

If you are a subscriber to Nintendo Power, and your subscription extends past the final December 2012 issue, the subscriber will receive a refund or credit card credit of the remaining value of your subscription. If however you got the subscription as a gift from someone, the refund will be given to the gift donor. If you reside in the United States or Canada, your refund will arrive approximately 4 to 6 weeks after the December 2012 issue is mailed out. If you are a customer outside of the United States or Canada, your refund will arrive approximately 6 to 10 weeks after the December 2012 issue is mailed.

 

 

At least they had some time to assemble a kick ass tribute to their publication.

It would be nice for EGM to do something similar.

 

[kitsunebi]

Ah, I see.  Taking advantage of the system.    Reminds me of those music clubs back in the day.  I must have joined the BMG music club at least 10 times.  Get 12-15 free CDs, buy one (nabbing 3-4 more free ones in the process), quit the club, repeat.  I amassed hundreds of CDs for almost nothing that way.  I've never milked a system for profit, though.  I just don't have the patience to sell stuff on eBay.  I always found it to be too much like working a second job - except one that isn't enjoyable and doesn't pay that well.

[twiztor]

i used to re-subscribe to NP with old subscription cards. this way i could get the old school guides like the NES Atlas, plus the cost was only $18 as opposed to $19.95. i kept waiting for them to put a stop to it, but they never did. i was subscribed up until around the GameCube era, so that worked out pretty well.

[Sean697]

Ya well I'd don't remember getting a refund on my Next Gen.

[flash1845]

I'm having serious flashbacks!

[giorgaras]

I think EGM started to go downhill around 2000 or so.