Thu, Feb 11, 2010 | 17:35 GMT

Future mags down, down, down

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Apart from Edge. Which is up less than half a percent year-on-year.

Future Publishing’s first ABC result for a year have shown a heavy slide for its entire games portfolio, with all but one of its magazines falling year-on-year for the 12 months ending December.

The PlayStation Official mag and OXM both dropped, and PC Zone suffered a 12-month decline of more than 40 percent.

Here’s the lot:

  • Edge: 29,007 (+0.4%)
  • Games Master: 34,313 (-16.2%)
  • OXM: 60,834 (-4.8%)
  • Xbox World 360: 25,874 (-16.6%)
  • OPM: 47,033 (-12.3%)
  • PSM 3: 21,224 (-19%)
  • PC Zone: 11,357 (-40.3%)
  • PC Gamer: 26,487 (-18.8%)
  • Official Nintendo Magazine: 51,271 (-12.8%)
  • N Gamer: 12,499 (-29.8%)

Publishing head James Binns told us on the phone this afternoon that Future would ABC on an annual basis from now on.

“A lot of media owners do annual ABCs, and some of our competitors do annual ABCs, so it’s not crazily out of context,” he said.

He added: “We chosed to do annual because it’s what our nearest rival did, and obviously we didn’t feel there was a lot of point in spending all that money at that point halfway through the year and doing an ABC, but we maintain the fact that you should be open with your numbers. That’s why we’ve ABC’d all our mags, big and small.”

Binns said that annual figures also help strip out the “seasonality” of the first half of the year traditionally being slower than the Christmas period.

Future showed a 12 percent decline in revenues to £36 million for the first quarter yesterday.

Keep an eye out for the full interview with James tomorrow.

18 comment-trail-alt Posted in: Hot, Journalism, Trade, UK
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18 comments

#1

Michael O’Connor
11/02/10, 3:45 pm

There’s only two magazines on that list that are even worth reading: EDGE and PC Zone.

The problem with half that list is that they are putting redundant magazines in competition with each other. They have the run of every single official console magazine, yet they’re still releasing “unofficial” console magazines?

…why?!

#2

Vodos
11/02/10, 3:46 pm

Are those numbers total magazine sales over a year?

#3

Patrick Garratt
11/02/10, 3:48 pm

It’s average monthly circulation.

#4

Gheritt White
11/02/10, 3:54 pm

They’ll bounce back. This interweb malarkey is only a fad.

#5

mington
11/02/10, 3:54 pm

the only magazine i’d dream of reading on that list would be Edge, news and reviews just doesn’t cut it anymore when we all have access to sites like this

indepth features that can’t be found online is the furture, much like pat’s rts feature :)

#6

dirigiblebill
11/02/10, 4:14 pm

I wonder how much their online biz is worth.

#7

blackdreamhunk
11/02/10, 4:26 pm

to be honest I like pc gamer I buy it once n while however I am never ever buying anything for edge they are lairs and don’t trust them.

#8

Eregol
11/02/10, 4:42 pm

They’d spend less money putting out one less mag and putting the staff from the unofficial mag on the official one.

This would mean a lrager official mag and more money to spend on ‘exclusives’ which will increase their circulation base.

#9

Len
11/02/10, 4:45 pm

What’s to trust!??!?!

They write interesting articles and comment on the industry in a, thankfully, mature manner and aren’t just full of hype.

You may or may not agree with their reviews but as we all know, reviews are subjective so make up yr own mind.

I like Edge… :)

#10

Tallon 4
11/02/10, 4:50 pm

I just renewed my EDGE subscription for 2 years and hope they will last

#11

Yoshi
11/02/10, 4:51 pm

They should take advantage of the internet and do a similar thing to Qore. Online Magazine :)

#12

blackdreamhunk
11/02/10, 5:03 pm

sony and microsoft says jump the gaming media says how high.

that is how much I trust edge online sorry. They have lost creadability with me.

#13

Gheritt White
11/02/10, 5:08 pm

Tbh, the best mag in the UK market by a country mile is GamesTM, IMHO.

#14

Egon Superb
11/02/10, 5:27 pm

Is OXM in that list Xbox World 360?

#15

Eregol
11/02/10, 8:35 pm

Nice to see BDH basing his opinions on fact rather than fiction once again.
NOT
Seriously man, you really need to look at yourself. You only need ti kiij at Edge’s ratings to see that they are 100% unbiased.
Unfortnately you seem more interested in conspiracy theories and frankly spend all your time spouting rubbish.

By the way, it’s liars, not lairs.

Man, if you’re not an alt I fear for the human race, especially if they all end up as dumb as you.

#16

Psychotext
11/02/10, 9:25 pm

Are you ok Jonarob? 8O

#17

Psychotext
11/02/10, 9:31 pm

/makes some calls

#18

frostquake
11/02/10, 10:15 pm

What is interesting is that OXM has just had a Price Hike in Subscription Prices here in the US…. I pick it up every so ofter to only be disappointed…VG247 and other sites always trump them months in advance. If OXM offered Premium Themes instead of crappy little pictures or something other then month old stories I had already read I would buy it more often. On top of that I want a Digital Issue like Play Magazine. You subscribe to them and not only do you get the print based one but you get the digital one for no extra cost.

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