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GameInformer is closing down

Naked Lunch

Member
Bummer.
I knew something was up when they split the magazine subscriptions off from Gamestop membership just a couple months back.

This was the last gaming magazine I still got in the mail every month.
Im going back to the days of Gamefan and EGM - but GI I still got to this very year. I still have all my issues too.

In the end its sad. Very sad.
 

Quasicat

Member
And yet the Alumni Association from University, which I have never paid a dime to, still send me magazines every month that are extremely high quality. This sucks!
 

Mitsurux

Member
Of the big ones, Egm, Gamepro, Nintendo Power and GI. I would never had guessed that GI would have been the last to go. Truly and end of an era.
 

DonkeyPunchJr

World’s Biggest Weeb
The golden age was the 16 bit wars bro. Shit sometimes the advertisements alone were worth buying the mag for. Back then EGMs were fuckin tomes. I remember getting one that was well over 300 pages back in 93-94. Previews of Beyond Oasis and a mini DKC guide included…

michael fassbender perfection GIF
Game Informer was nice for when you’ve already pored over every page of the latest EGM issue and you’re still hungry for more gaming info.
 

Loomy

Thinks Microaggressions are Real
Another item of my childhood/teenage years gone. Nintendo Power, EGM, and GI were my things. But yeah, hard to compete with online and amazed they lasted as long as they did.

Boutique magazines probably will be all that remain where a core audience can keep it afloat with high prices. Or magazines with low print runs and sold at premiums.
Yeah, for me it was EGM, GI, and PTOM. I remember reading the FF9 article in PTOM or whatever it was called before ahead of its launch over and over again I damn near memorized it.
 
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Miyazaki’s Slave

Gold Member
I never considered GI as a go to source/first choice for a gaming mag. They had a great run, sad to see but thanks for all the coverage and best of luck!
 

hussar16

Member
They were doing stil fairly good recently ago with previews that were only available to be seen on their mags. But with the gaming market going to cheap mass market crap people aswell stopped caring to buy the magazine
 

GloveSlap

Member
I never knew they were around that long. I always thought of them as a post-2000 Gamestop thing. Maybe it's because we didn't have Funco in my area in the 90s.
 
Say what you will but I liked the GI magazine. Now I hope Famitsu can live for way longer than that.

I grew amidst game magazines during the SNES and Ps One era when my father had a game rental shop like those mom-and-pops ones. I didn't even know how to read back then but I still remember seeing cheats for mortal kombat in one of those mags. It is the type of memory I'll bring to the grave and it was probably foundational for why I like games so much.

RIP Gameinformer you were one of the real ones.
 

Mossybrew

Member
I was never much into GI, it was one I'd browse from the Target mag section from time to time but my main go-tos were Diehard Gamefan, PSM, and Next Generation. Still sucks, I enjoyed those game mag days when you'd look forward to your new issue and read it cover to cover.
 

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
Sad, but that’s the way the industry is headed. I subbed to PSM for a couple years, but I’d buy GamePro, EGM, Next Generation, and etc from book stores.

I read Game Informer because that’s what you did with your pro membership. Not to mention they did have pretty good cover stories. I remember when BioShock first appeared on the cover of GI. They talked about the water effects and so forth.

I wonder if GameStop will ever shutdown. People have mourned GameStop already, so its departure wouldn’t shock me tbh. GameStop killed EB Games which killed Babbage’s/Software Etc. it all sorta went away with buyouts and mergers.
 
Shame but not surprising. Internet has rendered most magazines obsolete.

GI in the 90s though. Wow. What a magazine, all the writers had personalities that came off well in print. The coverage was great, etc. I subscribed for years and I hate that I threw those magazines away. I wish they would make them available in PDF format. Amazing content in those old issues.
 

OmegaSupreme

advanced basic bitch
I'm surprised they lasted this long. I can't remember the last time I picked up an issue or saw one even.
 

diffusionx

Gold Member
Damn. Sucks. For perspective, GI was once THE biggest magazine in the USA. Not the biggest gaming magazine, the biggest period.
 

SmokedMeat

Gamer™
Sad to see, but with a switch to largely digital it’s no surprise.

Did anyone who received them in their email even look at them?
 
Subbed back in the early to mid 2000s and it was a good magazine. Can't imagine much value in the 2010s considering the release cycle and shift to online publications.
 

Rran

Member
GI wasn't my favorite, but another physical gaming mag coming to and end is always a bummer. I remember they had some really lovely screen/art spreads.

It'll be nice not to get harangued at GameStop over getting a subscription though.
 

Evil Calvin

Afraid of Boobs
Sucks. I have hundreds of issues going back to the 90's. But Gamestop sucks and I knew this would happen.

They did a huge push for subs then close it down.

Only got two issues in the mail.

Andy and Reiner got out after they saw the writing on the wall.
 

Evil Calvin

Afraid of Boobs
I feel like I'm taking crazy pills reading people praising GI. It was little more than GameStop's advertising arm masquerading as a "gaming magazine" and a product they used to try to leverage people into buying their shitty "Pro" memberships. Most of the magazine's content was geared towards getting people into GameStop.
It was a great magazine in the 90's and 2000's. Not an advert at all. You don't know what you are talking about. Unless you are a teen and just started knowing about it within the last half dozen years.
 

Evil Calvin

Afraid of Boobs
And somehow kotaku survives.

Theres definitely some dodgey embezzlement or something going on at that shithole
It's the dozens of ads on mobile popping up over the content, while scrolling, at the top, at the bottom....it's constant. Only read an article if there is a 'reader view' option on the article. They suck.
 
I'm pretty surprised that they lasted this long honestly. Which sucks because I miss gaming magazines.

I subscribed to this service that sends you retro gaming magazines for awhile but they ended up just sitting after I read through them once.
 
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