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Why are gaming magazine subscriptions so cheap in the USA?

J

Jacobi

Banned
EGM 1 year 12$
GFW also. Non-americans can have both for 40$ which is also a great deal. Game Informer 20$. So yeah, could someone explain? Is that founded through internet ads or something like that? We Europeans mostly get like 5% discount in our subscriptions.
 
probably because theyre half full of advertisements and the marketing firms are the ones who make the magazine so cheap for us.
 
I suspect they are trying to keep their readers hooked with cheap prices. Aren't most of these guys in danger of going broke now that most everyone gets their news from the internet?
 
Because they suck.

There is only ONE good gaming magazine.

And it ain't from the states.

Edge_cover.jpg
 
im from england where im used to thick magazines, when I went to america I couldnt believe that EGM was about 30 pages thick. Maybe this is why
 
Jacobi said:
EGM 1 year 12$
GFW also. Non-americans can have both for 40$ which is also a great deal.
Click to expand...
What? Where? Whenever I see EGM on the newsstands over here (Netherlands), it sells for 10 euro's an issue, which is way too much.
 
Because they have alot of advertising in them and because there is a thing called the Internet which is taking sales away.
 
Greg said:
They are cheap because they are cheap.
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Yup. PC Gamer used to be $30/year. Now it's $20/year. Results? A much thinner, lower quality magazine... but that seems to be all that the market is interested in.
 
Ikaris said:
Because they suck.

There is only ONE good gaming magazine.

And it ain't from the states.

Edge_cover.jpg
Click to expand...
I'll buy a subscription for this when I'm a millionaire (isn't it like 80€ a year for non-UKers). Are these magazines really THAT bad? I mean if they're 1,50€ an issue...

Thomper said:
What? Where? Whenever I see EGM on the newsstands over here (Netherlands), it sells for 10 euro's an issue, which is way too much.
Click to expand...
You can subscribe on 1up.com, you need a credit card tho (but maybe wirecard works too)

painey said:
im from england where im used to thick magazines, when I went to america I couldnt believe that EGM was about 30 pages thick. Maybe this is why
Click to expand...
England has really awesome magazines, they're reaaally expensive tho :(
 
It's because Mag's make most of their money off the advertising. The higher their subscriptions are, the more money they can charge for advertising. So they make the magaizne subscription dirt cheap so they can tell advertisers we have 2 million subscribers etc....
 
Thomper said:
What? Where? Whenever I see EGM on the newsstands over here (Netherlands), it sells for 10 euro's an issue, which is way too much.
Click to expand...
I see it here for 12-15euros. No way am I paying that much for 3/4 advertisements and exercises in brevity. I'll do with Zinio Reader thank you very much, which is free and legal.
 
titiklabingapat said:
I actually got GI for $15. Well, it was free alongside my Gamestop EDGE card.
Click to expand...

GameInformer is a whole different animal though, because of its ties to GameStop. It's more than just a magazine to GameStop, it's also there to help push preorders. Ever notice how large GameInformer's preview section is?
 
grandjedi6 said:
Big firms owning the magazine also helps. I.E. Gamestop owning GI, Nintendo owning Nintendo Power, ect
Click to expand...

Actually, if I'm not mistaken, I believe Barnes and Noble owns Gamestop and GI.

But I get the idea you're trying to convey.
 
Tieno said:
I see it here for 12-15euros. No way am I paying that much for 3/4 advertisements and exercises in brevity. I'll do with Zinio Reader thank you very much, which is free and legal.
Click to expand...
Exactly. I'd love to be able to read GFW and EGM for a low price, but it really isn't worth 150 euro's a year to read it.

Thanks for the link though Jacobi, 40 dollars a year for both magazines is an awesome deal. Now to find a creditcard...
 
Thomper said:
Exactly. I'd love to be able to read GFW and EGM for a low price, but it really isn't worth 150 euro's a year to read it.

Thanks for the link though Jacobi, 40 dollars a year for both magazines is an awesome deal. Now to find a creditcard...
Click to expand...
I read/skim through EGM and GFW via Zinio, it's free.
 
Because it's thin and printed on cheap paper. I remember in the SNES/Genesis days when EGM was 300 pages an issue in the fall/winter with all the Holiday games.
 
Shamrock said:
It's because Mag's make most of their money off the advertising. The higher their subscriptions are, the more money they can charge for advertising. So they make the magaizne subscription dirt cheap so they can tell advertisers we have 2 million subscribers etc....
Click to expand...

This is the reason behind free subscriptions as well.
 
thefro said:
Because it's thin and printed on cheap paper. I remember in the SNES/Genesis days when EGM was 300 pages an issue in the fall/winter with all the Holiday games.
Click to expand...
Dude, do you have the issue with UT on the cover? It's later (obviously), but it's freakin' gigantic and has so many articles in it. I pull it out, like, once every year just so I can read their write-up on the cancelled MC Hammer Sega CD game. :lol

But yeah, I'm going with:
Shamrock said:
It's because Mag's make most of their money off the advertising. The higher their subscriptions are, the more money they can charge for advertising. So they make the magaizne subscription dirt cheap so they can tell advertisers we have 2 million subscribers etc....
Click to expand...
They make ad money off of the subscribers, and regular money off of the people who just pick it up at the newsstand (like me).
 
Even at that price it's not worth it. I just canceled my EGM subscription because you can get everything and more for free at 1UP. I'm not even really reading my last few issues, it's full of stuff from 2 months ago.
 
Borgnine said:
Even at that price it's not worth it. I just canceled my EGM subscription because you can get everything and more for free at 1UP. I'm not even really reading my last few issues, it's full of stuff from 2 months ago.
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Really, that's 1UP's biggest problem: whenever they try and put things out to coincide with the big EGM cover-story, they usually end up blowing whatever's in the cover story immediately or soon thereafter (and just the magazine in general). If they want to keep EGM thriving, Shoe, or Jen, or whoever the hell is in charge of this sort of thing, needs to grow a pair and say "this is our exclusive, it is never going on 1UP." Then 1UP can get EGM's reviews a month later, or possibly put up stories a few months after the EGM is off shelves, like they did with the Battlestation article.
 
dirtmonkey37 said:
Actually, if I'm not mistaken, I believe Barnes and Noble owns Gamestop and GI.

But I get the idea you're trying to convey.
Click to expand...

Use to. Gamestop spun off of Barnes and Noble in 2004.
 
Two reasons:
1. Americans hardly read to begin with. Expensive subscriptions would be another nail in the print media's coffin.
2. Compared to magazines in lets say germany, american mags have much much much more ads in them. The amount of pages dedicated to ads blew my mind the first time I bought an American mag.
 
Also magazines make most of their money off of advertisements. The more subscribers they have the more money they make. Thats also why newspapers are so cheap also.
 
I love how many answers in here are from people who obviously know nothing of how magazine publishing works.

Magazines make money off of ads - that's it. Not subscriptions, not copies sold at your local grocery mart, ad revenue and that's that. The reason subscriptions are so cheap is because, the more subcriptions a magazine has, the more guaranteed eyes will be seeing each issue every month, thus more ad revenue that will be able to come in. Publications don't care about the money they're getting for subscriptions - except to cover the basic cost of postage - unless they're a smaller publication that needs every cent it can get to simply get the magazine published and out there. (Getting a mag off of the ground or doing one on smaller terms is still ridiculously expensive.)

That's why, if you ever find a magazine that you honestly enjoy, you should subscribe, especially when they offer you a good deal to do so. I'm not saying that you shouldn't buy a magazine if the only way you're going to do so is issue-by-issue, but honestly, the difference that is made when you subscribe versus buying single issues is huge to the magazine.
 
Kapsama said:
Two reasons:
1. Americans hardly read to begin with. Expensive subscriptions would be another nail in the print media's coffin.
2. Compared to magazines in lets say germany, american mags have much much much more ads in them. The amount of pages dedicated to ads blew my mind the first time I bought an American mag.
Click to expand...


My girlfriend likes to read a lot of style and fashion mags. I picked one up one day and it was insane. The ads were the content. Great racket. :lol
 
I figure it has to do with the percentage of ads. I can breeze through and EGM or a Nintendo Power in a very short time, but recently I picked up copies of EDGE and Retro Gamer at the local import magazine shop and it took me about three sittings of reading to get through each one. They're extremely text heavy.
 
Two reasons:
1. Americans hardly read to begin with. Expensive subscriptions would be another nail in the print media's coffin.
2. Compared to magazines in lets say germany, american mags have much much much more ads in them. The amount of pages dedicated to ads blew my mind the first time I bought an American mag.
 
I feel ripped with my EDGE sub. I don't think people read nearly enough these days though.

Compared to the price of a bad game..
 
I AM JOHN! said:
Then 1UP can get EGM's reviews a month later, or possibly put up stories a few months after the EGM is off shelves, like they did with the Battlestation article.
Click to expand...
Problem with that instead of viewing 1UP and not bothering with EGM, I'll blow off both; having reviews posted on the internet a month after competitors is an exercise in futility. I don't need the review a month late. I need it at the time I'm considering purchasing the game being discussed.

Less time-sensitive feature stories is fine, and actually, I think the print mags would benefit a lot from putting as much focus on them as possible. The News, Previews, and Reviews sections are all outdated before they ever make it to my door. A neat exposé on the History of Nintendo, or interviews with industry figures about more general topics is the kind of thing I can read while on the throne. Print can't compete with the internet in terms of timeliness. Shouldn't try.
 
The best gaming magazines I have seen so far are German. Gamestar and the like, as thick as U.S. magazines from the age of 150-200 page issues, high quality pages, Demo CD's. That's how it was 4 years ago. I don't know if it's still like that today as I have since moved.
 
I pay €80 for a year's subscription to EDGE magazine (13 issues), and it's worth every cent! I would pay that just for the Time Extend feature in EDGE, which every month is a brilliant retrospective look on an older game.
 
Because they have much more subscribers than magazines in other countries. Simple as that. All magazines are cheaper in the US, compared to elsewhere.
 
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