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Gaming Magazine sales are down. Well… duh.

James Ashton was recently interview by GamesIndustry.biz, and in that interview he says that the primary cause for the falling circulation number for the OPSM3 magazine (Official Playstation 3 Magazine) is because of “transition” from the last-generation to the current one. This actually makes a good bit of sense when you look at the past figures: Any publication that focuses exclusively on one console is going to experience a sharp decline when that console becomes obsolete. It’s common sense, stupid.

In the report from ABC, the listings for the Official Playstation 2 magazine have it falling sharply by 24%. Well, this is natural when you consider the PS2 is on it’s last legs, with God of War II being the old console’s swan song. Just about every Playstation Publication was down in readership, but this is not very surprising considering the waning interest in the ancient PS2 combined with the almost transparent interest in the PS3.

In the same report from ABC, several Xbox and Nintendo publications had steady or rising sales numbers, and virtually all multi-platform magazines remained steady.

But nonetheless, SOME BLOGS have gone out and implied that this is a sign that the magazine age is starting to die. I disagree. Naturally, with the advent of the internet traditional publications are never going to become as popular as they once were. But that does not mean that we are seeing the end of an era, so to speak. Publications such as Game Informer keep readers interested by writing (mostly) informed reviews, as well as scoring interviews with the biggest names in the industry. Others do so by including a DVD with their magazine that gives the reader demos and previews of highly anticipated games in action, instead of relying on screenshots and still images.

…it just dawned on me that I’m probably going to get mail/comments from people shouting like banshees because I had the audacity to call Joystiq a *gasp* “blog.” “itz n0t @ b10g, itz a gamng websitelolz!” they will cry. Sorry, but it’s a fucking blog, and at best a sub-par publication. (And that is in no way saying I’m better — I’ve been here for a month. What’s their excuse?)

We are in an era where we’ve become so integrated with each other via the internet that we can share news between two sources in a matter of seconds. In this sense, magazines are obsolete. But if magazines stick to reviews, previews, and scoring exclusive interviews with the industry’s best, they will live on. Also, with some “Official” magazines including DVDs with playable demos, walkthroughs and the occasional “making of” documentary, gaming magazines are finding new ways to keep readership high without compromising their integrity.

Except EGM. They’ve sucked since 2002.

Regardless, gaming mags are still an important, and high-quality source for your gaming fix. There is something about reading a review or interview on paper that you just can not replicate over the internet. And their stories tend to be more detailed and info-rich than the standard blog.

For now.

magazines, gaming news, gaming magazines, Game Informer, OPSM, Joystiq