Times change, but this magazine was great for a long time.
Game Informer shuts down after 33 years
Submitted 4 months ago by simple@lemm.ee to games@lemmy.world
https://www.gematsu.com/2024/08/game-informer-shuts-down-after-33-years
Comments
ampersandrew@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Aielman15@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Fuck. It was one of the few remaining good videogame-related publications. They will be sorely missed.
ByteOnBikes@slrpnk.net 4 months ago
I remember absolutely being a fanboy in the 90s. It was so much better than it’s rivals like EGM and GamePro.
But around 2005, either I aged out of it or the magazine got worse. Then I remember GameStop giving it for free at some point. I just remember it being a shell of a shell of a magazine, as the rest of the gaming industry moved to gaming blogs.
Ashtear@lemm.ee 4 months ago
The Gamestop deal would have been 2002-ish. I actually hadn’t heard of the magazine before we started pushing it in the store. With Game Informer’s features mirroring our store marketing, it was the first time I realized how incestuous the industry was (easy to see the signs of it now when looking back at even older mags). The bizarre amount of coverage it had on the PS2 game State of Emergency was one example from the time. It’s wild to me to hear it being called reputable here and elsewhere today when it had such a fundamental conflict of interest for the vast majority of its run.
Thomrade@lemm.ee 4 months ago
I’m kind of in the same boat as you. My mainstay for the longest time was RockPaperShotgun, probably from 2008–2016 or thereabouts. Once the old guard left the quality of the site drastically changed, and it became significant shallower in terms of reviews. Not really sure where to get the same kind of journalism these days.
rozodru@lemmy.ca 4 months ago
had a subscription to GI years and years ago. it came with the Gamestop membership thing.
I miss old gaming mags like this, EGM, GamePro, etc. man EGM used to be THICK, it was like buying a catalog every month.
KeefChief13@lemmy.world 4 months ago
GamePro was fantastic
rozodru@lemmy.ca 4 months ago
oh it was great. I used to try and get in the magazine by drawing on the envelopes and mailing them in. EGM and I think GamePro used to have artwork that people mailed in.
Also prior to the Internet this was THE way to get cheats for games. every time a new issue came out I always checked the back to see if there were cheats for a game I just got.
RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Well, I guess this is an early sign to say RIP to GameStop too.
iAmTheTot@sh.itjust.works 4 months ago
I don’t really think that’s fair.
RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.world 4 months ago
When a business is closing many of its stores and shutting down a subsidiary that has been around for 30+ years with a pretty reputable name (instead of selling it, for example), thats usually a sign that the business is going to go bye bye in the near future.
Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 months ago
GameStop has sucked for a very long time and I’m astounded that so many people holding out hope for a meme stick think it’s going to last.
Support local stores, death to GameStop
Assman@sh.itjust.works 4 months ago
Don’t be left holding the bags
ZeroTwo@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Thank you, GI, for years and years of awesome magazines when I was a kid.
Dud@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Well, probably should go archive the old crew Super Replays. Hearing Dan’s laugh as Reiner loses his shit at him is like an old comfort blanket.
SidewaysHighways@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Reiner was my favorite always and forever
Dud@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Tim, Dan, and Reiner in any horror themed Super Replay is fantastic. I went through a really rough separation and I needed something happy-ish to fill the dead noise at night and found the Megaman Legends Super Replay and the rest is history.
SnowGator@lemm.ee 4 months ago
Still was. I just signed up for their 2 year subscription deal, and always looked forward to getting my latest edition. Also listened to their podcast, which was great too. Super bummed about this.
Zahille7@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Damn. I’m glad I have a small collection of their issues now.
Prox@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Is there any way to read Game Internet online now (archive or whatever)?
I’d really love to check out the Vampire Survivors interview from the final issue.AgentGrimstone@lemmy.world 4 months ago
I really liked their covers. I subscribed just for those alone.
pyre@lemmy.world 4 months ago
one of the few publications that seemed to do actual work. what a shame.
RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Indeed. Its sad to see a reputable name go before something far less reputable, like Kotaku for example.
I guess it must be true, hate clicks and outrage do generate more revenue than real, genuine gaming articles written with pretty good journalistic integrity.
pyre@lemmy.world 4 months ago
eh, kotaku has some solid articles and reporting as well. gaming journalism in general is incestuous shit but most of the anti-kotaku sentiment comes from goonergate shit
mojofrododojo@lemmy.world 4 months ago
?
they were wholly owned by gamestop. their magazine was a lever to drive gamestop subscriptions and upsells. y’all worried about kotaku crack me up, if there were real ethics in game journalism a supposedly independent publication reviewing the products wouldn’t be owned by the largest vendor of the products.
Mango@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Is it actual work to just say what the publishers tell you to say and give everything a 7?
SuperSaiyanSwag@lemmy.zip 4 months ago
If you actually read their interviews and reviews you will see that it is way more in-depth than any YouTube essays or twitch streams. It sucks that those things attract more people because I get way more informed at an objective level with GI articles and similar podcasts.
mojofrododojo@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Eh… they were beholden to the games industry as much as any publication, and perhaps more due to their ownership.
pyre@lemmy.world 4 months ago
yeah i meant work as in interesting content rather than journalism. never referred to GI for reviews but they had fun content.