PlayStation: The Official Magazine Will Soon Be No More

And another print publication bites the dust.

This time, according to Game Informer, it's PlayStation: The Official Magazine, which will be shutting down after the holiday issue is on store shelves.

Publisher Future US confirmed the unfortunate news but they didn't give a specific reason as to why the magazine was dying. ...well, we don't really need one, do we? In the age of electronic wizardry, print media in all venues is failing left and right. And when it comes to a tech-oriented medium like video games, where 95% of all news and updates are found online, what else could we possibly expect?

PlayStation: The Official Magazine editor-in-chief Roger Burchill didn't have much to say about it on his Twitter page:

"And...I think it's time I say 'So long and thanks for all the fish,' and take a little break from Twitter. Check you on the flip side."

The magazine had a circulation of about 139,000 but obviously, that wasn't enough. And considering the sheer number of gamers in the world, that number is shockingly low. Oh well, guess that's that.

Tags: playstation official magazine, playstation, the official magazine, playstation news

11/7/2012 11:20:14 AM Ben Dutka

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Comments (33 posts)

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I007spectre
Wednesday, November 07, 2012 @ 11:46:34 AM
Reply

I always enjoy having a physical thing in my hands to hold. Guess I'll get a partial refund.

1 up, 1 down

oONewcloudOo
Wednesday, November 07, 2012 @ 12:02:29 PM
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Sad news, but I wouldn't be surprised if more official game magazines started closing down.

0 up, 0 down

CanadianGuy420
Wednesday, November 07, 2012 @ 12:12:10 PM

yea probably i'm not really surprised by this considering nintendo power was shut down not to long ago. i think Future US publishes a Xbox mag to that'll likely be next

0 up, 0 down

CanadianGuy420
Wednesday, November 07, 2012 @ 12:09:12 PM
Reply

that's to bad i've been a subscriber for almost 10 years back when they were PSM magazine. i didn't have internet back then and it was my best way of keeping up-to-date on reviews and everything.

i'm really gonna miss it. i know the internet is the way of the world now i like it as much as anyone but i still always liked the.. i don't know.. intimacy of sitting down and reading a magazine.

0 up, 0 down

Killa Tequilla
Wednesday, November 07, 2012 @ 12:10:07 PM
Reply

Nothing on the magazine you can't find out online.

0 up, 0 down

Ultimadream
Wednesday, November 07, 2012 @ 12:10:23 PM
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Sad news indeed, mind you what chance does a monthly released magazine have against competing with hourly updates on the internet for free... It's just another case of digital content overlapping physical material - a concerning thought really.

0 up, 1 down

maxpontiac
Wednesday, November 07, 2012 @ 12:27:25 PM
Reply

If there is one media that digital has take over, it's paper magazines. All of them are going the way of the dinosaur..

0 up, 0 down

Xombito
Wednesday, November 07, 2012 @ 12:48:46 PM
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This mag and the original Ziff Davis mag were regular reads for me. But because of this site, ps blog and their podcast I lost interest. Its a shame, but after I stopped reading ptom I knew it wouldn't last much longer.

0 up, 0 down

Highlander
Wednesday, November 07, 2012 @ 1:09:39 PM
Reply

Kinda sad really, and perhaps a sign of the times. Then again didn't Sony discontinue Qore as well? I don't know, I just get the feeling that it would behoove Sony (SCEA) to do more in the way of published things to promote PlayStation. Though I guess they have a strategy, it just seems like the strategy is to roll over and play dead.

0 up, 0 down

BikerSaint
Wednesday, November 07, 2012 @ 5:51:38 PM

Sony also canceled the PSN's "Pulse" on the sly a couple months back too.
Veronica Belmont's now working on a show at a different site.

As for Future, they have been in the soup for a while now, & I remember articles about them almost having to disband the company once already within the last year.

I surly miss those old POM's & PS-Underground magizines, with all of their PS1 news & demo discs that were included.
Luckily, I still have all of my original POM & PSU disc sets.

Last edited by BikerSaint on 11/7/2012 5:53:55 PM

0 up, 0 down

WorldEndsWithMe
Wednesday, November 07, 2012 @ 1:17:56 PM
Reply

The end of an era. What's he mean about fish?

0 up, 0 down

gumbi
Wednesday, November 07, 2012 @ 1:29:47 PM

It's a Hitchhiker's Guide reference. A must read/watch in my books ;) Highly recommend.

3 up, 0 down

wackazoa
Wednesday, November 07, 2012 @ 1:43:00 PM

Dude got that movie DVR'd gonna have to watch it.

1 up, 0 down

Beamboom
Wednesday, November 07, 2012 @ 3:05:42 PM

"So long and thanks for all the fish" is the fourth book in the increasingly inaccurate trilogy "The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy", who ended on six books or so :D

The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy is a MASTERPIECE.
Seriously, you will love those books World. They are so out of this world hilarious. They MUST be read.

My favourite books EVER, and the only books I've read both in English and Norwegian versions. They are epic in every thinkable sense of the word.

Please please PLEASE read them. I give you two pages to fall in love with it.

Last edited by Beamboom on 11/7/2012 3:10:08 PM

2 up, 0 down

gumbi
Wednesday, November 07, 2012 @ 3:13:02 PM

Well said Beam. Though, I'd give him 42 pages *wink*

2 up, 0 down

Beamboom
Wednesday, November 07, 2012 @ 3:27:58 PM

But of course. ;)

0 up, 0 down

WorldEndsWithMe
Wednesday, November 07, 2012 @ 4:07:17 PM

That's some endorsement. What are they about exactly?

0 up, 0 down

Highlander
Wednesday, November 07, 2012 @ 6:26:55 PM

So long and thanks for all the fish is the message that Dolphins leave mankind at one point along the way in the novels. They start with an ordinary human with an extraordinary friend - Ford Prefect, who turns out to be a field researcher for the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The Guide is a unique travelogue/encyclopedia that tells you anything you don't need to know and rather comfortingly has the words "Don't Panic" emblazoned on it's cover.

The story starts with Earth being threatened with destruction to make way for a Hyperspace bypass, Arthur and Ford meet up with some friends of Ford's including one Zaphod Beeblebrox. Zaphod happens to be the Galactic president but is on the run because he stole a special new ship that uses the Infinite Improbability drive...Other characters include Marvin the Paranoid Android who has a brain the size of a planet...

They visit various places including a planet workshop and the Restaurant at the end of the Universe. At some point it's revealed that the Dolphins left the earth prior to the Hyperspace Bypass incident and their last massage which was not properly understood by humans at the time was "So long and thanks for all the fish."

It's a very funny and off beat comedy, and best read. The movies are not the greatest adaptations, and the radio series was great, but the books are best. Oh, and of course, it's British - written by Douglas Adams - and therefore has a decidedly British wit to it.

Last edited by Highlander on 11/7/2012 6:27:54 PM

1 up, 0 down

Beamboom
Wednesday, November 07, 2012 @ 8:25:05 PM

I'd rather call Marvin manically depressive than paranoid, because of all the stuff he understands? But yeah, the books are incredibly funny - but they are not "just" funny either, they offer some incredibly intelligent snide remarks on how we, mankind, really are.
I don't think any summary could make them justice, they just have to be read.

Adams creativity is simply astonishing, every single page (and I mean that - just wait and see) is jam-packed with fantastic little details, there really is not a dull chapter throughout the entire work.
I've never read anything like it.

Last edited by Beamboom on 11/7/2012 8:27:08 PM

1 up, 0 down

Dustinwp
Wednesday, November 07, 2012 @ 1:31:33 PM
Reply

I've been a subscriber since the first issue, so this really sucks.:( I dropped Game Informer because they make you subscribe through GameStop and I refuse to go in that store or do their dumb PowerUp card, crap. No more gaming magazines I guess. What the hell am I going to read, while I'm on the toilet punching-a-grumpy?

Last edited by Dustinwp on 11/7/2012 1:33:39 PM

0 up, 0 down

gumbi
Wednesday, November 07, 2012 @ 1:35:28 PM
Reply

That's too bad. I've a lot of fond memories of PSM. I still have a big ol stack of PS2 demo discs from when I subscribed.

We're into an electronic age though, and print media is slowly but surely fading away. On the bright side, think of how many trees this will save ;)

1 up, 0 down

AcHiLLiA
Wednesday, November 07, 2012 @ 2:51:05 PM
Reply

Heard about them, probably had some issues before, don't remember.

^^And just like gumbi said.

Last edited by AcHiLLiA on 11/7/2012 2:52:26 PM

0 up, 0 down

RICHIECOQUI
Wednesday, November 07, 2012 @ 3:37:25 PM
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Funny i got an e-mail from them asking my to subscibe again it's been a few years since i stop renewing! Does any one remember the demo disk that use come with it?? Those were the days!!!

0 up, 0 down

dmiitrie
Wednesday, November 07, 2012 @ 4:02:57 PM
Reply

To be honest, I'm surprised that any monthly periodicals exist anymore. News cycles happen so quickly that it must be next to impossible for such a publication to keep up. It's unfortunate for subscribers though, and I hope that Sony has something on mind to replace it.

0 up, 0 down

sirbob6
Wednesday, November 07, 2012 @ 4:23:30 PM
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Shame, I just refunded my subscription.

0 up, 0 down

chuygr35
Wednesday, November 07, 2012 @ 4:28:10 PM
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To bad, i am going to miss the posters as well. I guess I will have to read something else while taking care of business.

0 up, 0 down

tes37
Wednesday, November 07, 2012 @ 5:29:22 PM
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I used to subscribe to this magazine. I hate to see them go, but the cost of printing that magazine a month isn't cheap. I was kind of surprised by the low subscription rate. I thought they would have something closer to a million subscribers.

1 up, 0 down

Pyramid
Wednesday, November 07, 2012 @ 8:28:09 PM
Reply

Another great magazine i regularly receive thats cancelled. First was PSExtreme with great reviews like this site. My sub is until July 2013. Instead of sending a refund they let u choose from other mag they own.

0 up, 0 down

THEVERDIN
Thursday, November 08, 2012 @ 1:15:50 PM

Which is BS they didn't have anything I wanted.

1 up, 0 down

___________
Thursday, November 08, 2012 @ 2:25:45 AM
Reply

not surprised, in fact i am actually but for a very different reason.
this was always so late with reviews, i remember picking up the may issue and it had a review for killzone 3!
3 freaking months after the game released!
not to mention its THREE times more expensive than gameinformer, and that has more content in it, more previews, and early reviews!
15 bucks for reviews of 3 month old games, yea good luck with that!
so yea im surprised, surprised it took this long for it to go out.

0 up, 0 down

CanadianGuy420
Thursday, November 08, 2012 @ 1:51:10 PM

wrong. the PTOM review of KZ3 was in the march 2011 issue not may and it was released about the same time as the game. they were never 3 months late with reviews especially one as important as KZ3. (i have all my old issues and just checked so i know i'm right) and what are you talking about 15 bucks ? it was like 7 or 8 $ your store must over charge

Last edited by CanadianGuy420 on 11/8/2012 1:51:43 PM

1 up, 0 down

___________
Friday, November 09, 2012 @ 8:17:00 AM

right.
there are other countries in the world besides the states you know?

0 up, 0 down

Pyramid
Thursday, November 08, 2012 @ 1:20:52 PM
Reply

Its a waste of time and money read review from the magazines(thats why i love this site). U cant do it with only 250 words. And because the deadline they do it that way. Sincerely i read the mag because i feel in conservative and other section the mag offers.

0 up, 0 down

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