U.K.-based unofficial magazines Xbox World and PSM3 are closing, with the final issues distributing on December 12.
Clair Porteous, publisher Future's head of entertainment, said, "This decision has been taken as Future continues to focus on its strategy on accelerating digital growth across its international digitally-focused brand business."
That's not a surprise — a lot of magazines are headed toward digital formats or none at all. Print just isn't selling the way it used to. Future said it will continue to publish the Official Magazines for Xbox and PlayStation, however.
"Future's gaming portfolio saw over 14M unique users for October 2012 — up over 20 percent on October 2011," said Porteous. "We intend and fully expect there to be no redundancies and will be looking to redeploy all staff within the business."
Xbox World launched in 2003 and was originally owned by Computec Media. PSM3 launched in 2000 as PSM2 and has over 160 issues.
On its Facebook page, Xbox World expressed its sadness over the closure, writing, "We’ve got some bad news for you. As you may or may not have read elsewhere, issue 126 will be the last ever edition of Xbox World.
"After nine strong years of being the best Xbox magazine in the world, we’re shutting up shop forever."
PSM3 issued a similar message on its Facebook: "Don't be sad. It's too late for that now. In truth, we've been finding it hard to keep the magazine at the level we'd like for a little while now, and we'll all be grateful of the rest. Like that bit at the end of MGS4 where Big Boss toots on a cigar. Finally at peace. While, er, coughing his lungs up.
"We've always given everything for what we do — for what we've done for over 12 years — and it seems fitting to ride out while we're still producing great content. We would say that, obviously, but the new issue, on-sale 14th Nov, is one of our favorites ever. Ever. That's saying something. We're going out with a bang: revealing everything you need to know about PlayStation 4. We can't say more, but it's *seriously* worth a read."
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[CVG]
