Electronic Gaming Monthly... Is it DEAD?

[ctophil]

Yep, I just got my EGM Issue 264 today. In fact, I got the same cover (1 out of 4). Anybody who got the other covers, please post it here for us to see. :-) Seems like EGM is permanently on a quarterly system now because my address label reads, "Winter 2016" as the last issue of my current subscription, which is 2 years from now.

[spoonman]

Yep, I just got my EGM Issue 264 today. In fact, I got the same cover (1 out of 4). Anybody who got the other covers, please post it here for us to see. :-) Seems like EGM is permanently on a quarterly system now because my address label reads, "Winter 2016" as the last issue of my current subscription, which is 2 years from now.

Yeah, I'm interested in which other covers exist. I always seem to end up with #1 of x.

I'm fine with quarterly as long as they can keep the EGM train rolling along.

Between this, Retro Gamer, RETRO, and the Internet.. I have enough to read.

[E-Day]

I hate when they do this "Cover 1 of x". I assume I will be getting mine in the next week or so. It's always slower to get to me.

[E-Day]

My copy arrived today. Cover 4 of 4, which is in the cover gallery. If those of you who got cover 1 are able to scan it, please do. I would like to add it to the cover gallery as well.

[spoonman]

Anyone receive their Fall 2014 issue #265 of EGM yet?

Call out!

[ctophil]

Um, I was wondering the same thing. It's about to hit October and no sign of the new EGM yet. But yeah, let us know if anybody got their Fall 2014 issue yet. RETRO Magazine is late too. I'm still waiting for my July/August issue. It's now the end of September. If it weren't for Game Informer and NF Magazine, I would be without video game literature for months on end. lol.

[E-Day]

No sign of EGM here. No sign of Retro either. Might be why they only put issue numbers on their magazines instead of a date. That way it can't be late unless it shows up after the next issue.

[spoonman]

No sign of EGM here. No sign of Retro either. Might be why they only put issue numbers on their magazines instead of a date. That way it can't be late unless it shows up after the next issue.

I actually received my copy of RETRO on Saturday. So I would expect that soon.

[ctophil]

I got my July/August 2014 RETRO issue the other day as well. I do remember getting an e-mail from RETRO, stating that they were behind on that issue due to the staff being at E3 this past summer. They should be back to normal publishing for the rest of the year. As for EGM, I'm still waiting, hopefully next week it'll be in my mailbox. :-)

[spoonman]

OK guys.. here's the deal.

EGM Fall 2014 #265 was shipped back in September.

Did everyone receive an issue? Probably not because they didn't print enough.

Dear Mr. Henzel:

I apologize, the Fall 2014 issue is out of stock.

I called the 800# and spoke with an extremly rude woman telling me to search eBay for it because they don;t have a single copy left.
She did all but hang up on me after I told her I have been a subscriber since May of 1989.

This is where EGM dies for me at least, but I don't expect them to go much longer when treating their fans like this....

RIP EGM. From 12 issues a year, to 6, to 4... to 0 (for me).

[E-Day]

I haven't gotten mine yet either, nor have I seen it on the shelves.

[twiztor]

that is shady as hell. i'd keep calling until they made it up to me.

[spoonman]

that is shady as hell. i'd keep calling until they made it up to me.

All they are willing to do is to extend the subscription by one issue.

Has anyone here received the Fall 2014 issue?

According to the "customer service rep" it was shipped out in early September. So I would assume anyone who didn't get it will not be receiving it.

I spoke with a few people on Facebook and they didn't receive it either.

[KiwiArcader]

You know what to do to a..holes like these?

Scan their mags as obviously they don't give a rats about loyal subscribers and as they appear to be able/afford to make a living off producing 10 copies of an issue they won't be affected financially by someone scanning them. The sooner they die and put everyone out of their misery over not getting their paid for copies the better off everyone will be.

[ctophil]

You know, I don't think they ever released EGM # 265. From my experience in the past, everytime when there is a long delay of the next issue, they would send me a duplicate of the previous issue after contacting customer service. And then, I wait a month later, the new issue pops up in sequence. I believe customer service "makes up" stuff when they say, "the issue was shipped out back in September." This is why you will not see Issue # 265, neither in your mailbox nor the news stand, until it actually is released.

I'm still waiting for my new issue. So, who knows. Maybe we'll get two issues by Christmas to make up for it. Just being optimistic. :-)

[spoonman]

You know, I don't think they ever released EGM # 265. From my experience in the past, everytime when there is a long delay of the next issue, they would send me a duplicate of the previous issue after contacting customer service. And then, I wait a month later, the new issue pops up in sequence. I believe customer service "makes up" stuff when they say, "the issue was shipped out back in September." This is why you will not see Issue # 265, neither in your mailbox nor the news stand, until it actually is released.

I'm still waiting for my new issue. So, who knows. Maybe we'll get two issues by Christmas to make up for it. Just being optimistic. :-)

You may be right. It's just that the customer service reps in the email and on the phone were very specific to say Fall 2014 and not even knowing the issue number.

We'll see. No one I know with a subscription seems to have this issue. Perhaps they just made enough for the EGM staff.

[spoonman]

Does anyone else think it's a bad idea to re-subscribe for 12 issues of EGM?

At the current rate of 4 issues a year this would add up to a 3 year subscription.

Just seems a little overly optimistic is all.

[KiwiArcader]

I think you're nuts subscribing to a magazine whose customer support staff treat subscribers like second class citizens. But that's just me ....

[ctophil]

Sure, I contemplated that a long time ago when EGM started to have delays every month. I was leery of re-subscribing to EGM last year because of the reduction of issues. The only reason why I even re-subscribed was to collect every known issue of EGM. But now it seems we are not even getting the magazine at all.

When the EGM staffer came on here and said they are making improvements, I still didn't believe him. But I kept my optimism anyways. Now it's been a while, we haven't heard from him at all. So, my disbelief wasn't in vain after all. Why didn't I believe him? Because the same thing happened to Gamepro. In the letters section, there was a gamer who asked the Editors of Gamepro if they are going to shut down pretty soon. Gamepro said "We are not going anywhere. Gamepro is here to stay for a long time to come." Sure enough, Gamepro shut down soon after that.

[spoonman]

That's the only reason I am thinking of re-subbing.
I hate not having a complete collection.

No offense intended to those who are contributing to the magazine, but I kind of wish they would just officially announce the magazine is over than to run it like this.

[E-Day]

Maybe contact Steve Harris on Facebook and ask him what the heck is going on with the magazine. I've been tempted to do that...

[spoonman]

Maybe contact Steve Harris on Facebook and ask him what the heck is going on with the magazine. I've been tempted to do that...

I actually attempted that, but I doubt he really has much involvement, if any, at this point.

https://www.facebook.com/egmnow/posts/4778263510198

[ctophil]

You may be right. It's just that the customer service reps in the email and on the phone were very specific to say Fall 2014 and not even knowing the issue number.

We'll see. No one I know with a subscription seems to have this issue. Perhaps they just made enough for the EGM staff.

Another proof in the pudding is that it's not on Ebay either like Customer Service said. In the past, when an issue arrived, there would be a few sellers on Ebay that have the issue. So, my statement stands that EGM Fall 2014 or #265 was never made or at most incomplete. Perhaps we will get it when #265 is finished.

In the meantime, I sent an e-mail to customer service. I'm pretty sure I will get a generic reply that my subscription will be extended and EGM Fall 2014 issue has been "sold out."

[ctophil]

After doing a few searches, I came across a message on Magazine Agent's web site (a magazine subscription site) with the cover of EGM #264 (Destiny Cover), which was the last known issue published,

"We're sorry, but Electronic Gaming Monthly is unavailable because it has ceased publication."

You can check it out for yourself here: http://www.magazine-agent.com/Electronic-Gaming-Monthly/Covers

Take it any way you want but a subscription site would know if a magazine is still alive or not.

[spoonman]

After doing a few searches, I came across a message on Magazine Agent's web site (a magazine subscription site) with the cover of EGM #264 (Destiny Cover), which was the last known issue published,

"We're sorry, but Electronic Gaming Monthly is unavailable because it has ceased publication."

You can check it out for yourself here: http://www.magazine-agent.com/Electronic-Gaming-Monthly/Covers

Take it any way you want but a subscription site would know if a magazine is still alive or not.

Interesting.

I called their customer service line again tonight and they calim they have not ceased publication and even tried to get me to resubscribe, but who knows at this point.

It's all a big cluster#&$%

They originally told me the Fall 2014 issue was mailed out in mid September and now I was just told it was October 16th.

She also told me they are up to the "EGM Special Fall Issue" now, but she didnt have a number for the issue.

I was constantly placed on hold for 5-10 minutes while she retrived the information from someone else.

I still have not heard back from their email on 10/21/14

From: Electronic Gaming Monthly

To: spoonman@nycap.rr.com

Sent: Tuesday, October 21, 2014 9:54 AM

Subject: Re: No longer receiving issues of EGM [<AD6149308>]

Dear Mr. Henzel:

I apologize, the Fall 2014 issue is out of stock. I am checking with our warehouse to see if we have an issue to mail. I apologize all orders must be prepaid. If you wish to order now via Visa or Mastercard please contact our customer service at: 1-800-829-7830. I apologize for the inconvenience.

Sincerely,

Shantel Tara

Customer Service

On top of this she tried to say I was contacting them too much about missing issues. To which I explained that they should have kept their customers up to date on all of their changes. As well as letting us know when our subscription is up for renewal. First they reduced the magazine from 12 issues a year (This is where the "Monthly" comes into play) down to 6 issues/year, then down to 4 issues a year. So when she said I hadn't even paid for a subscription since 2011 I guess it makes sense.

So again, I have no clue what's going on and neither do they.