Games For Windows Magazine Goes Online-Only

Ziff Davis division 1UP Network has announced that its Games For Windows brand will be exiting the print publishing market and going online only in a move it says will "best serve the PC gaming community." In his weblog, 1UP Network content VP Simon Cox stated that "the announcement today that we are closing the print publication... has nothing to do with the Chapter 11 stuff," referring to the announcement in May that the publisher was filing for bankruptcy. "Essential advertising dollars needed to sustain a PC gaming magazine are moving online at an alarming pace," he added. "Much faster, it seems, than in the console world. Fast enough that we realized - and Microsoft agreed - that it was time to put the GFW team's efforts where the most people could see the results: Online." The April/May issue of GFW will be the final print issue, with GFW's extended coverage now moving to the network's hub, 1UP.com, with Cox saying that the publication would be "retaining the entire edit staff of the magazine and moving them online." The organization says new content and exclusives will be coming to the network in the coming weeks. Said Ziff Davis CEO Jason Young, "PC gamers and marketers have made the online space their home. There are 10 million 'World of Warcraft' subscribers, 15 million Steam users, and when online and digital distribution is taken into account, DFC Intelligence reported that people spent more money on PC games than on any other platform last year. It's a natural move for us to refocus our resources and talent to the online space, in order to reach the PC gaming community where it truly lives."