Expected Magazine Crisis Bites as SCEA Cans Official Mag

Sony Computer Entertainment America has announced that it has canned its agreement with Ziff Davies for the production of the Official PlayStation Magazine in the US, in news that will come as no shock to many industry pundits.

Sony outlined that it will be cutting the mag as there is now no need for a printed publication to carry a demo-disc as all demos, we expect, will be distributed digitally via the PlayStation Online Network.

Commenting on the cessation of the deal with Ziff, Peter Dille, senior vice president of marketing, SCEA said, "A key element of the OPM magazine was the playable PlayStation disc packed in with every magazine. With the launch of the PLAYSTATION(R)3 (PS3(TM)) computer entertainment system and its full network and Web capabilities, we are focused on delivering content via the PlayStation Network and PlayStation.com website, not discs.

"While we have enjoyed a very good run with the printed version of Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine, we feel it is important to shift assets online to meet the needs of today's PlayStation consumer. This is a natural evolution of our content delivery strategy."

Ziff Davies also issues a press release during the production of this article. "Ziff Davis has had a great run with Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine for the past nine years," said Scott McCarthy, President of Ziff Davis Game Group. "We are very proud of the magazine and its outstanding editorial team, and we're obviously sad to see it go. Unfortunately, given where we are taking the Game Group, it doesn't easily fit into our integrated media network or afford us digital media opportunities."

It's been asserted for some time that official mags offer little over an expanded press release card with a disc stapled to its face. Combine this with the increased penetration of broadband and the robust online offerings of the new machines, and it’s clear that any videogames-related print media is surely living on borrowed time.

Magazine publishing corporations have also predicted this swing in consumer and platform holder preferences. Many are instigating dead-tree exit strategies that include dumping or side-stepping established online staff in preference to (formerly) print-based staff. Whether the older skillset can maintain itself in the younger medium is open to question.