UGO Buys 1up: EGM Officially Canned

Remember how I recently reported that Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM) might “go the way of the dodo”? Well, it looks like that has finally come true. UGO Entertainment has purchased 1up from Ziff Davis, and while they may have claimed that 1up would “stand beside UGO as a flagship brand.” (as quoted from UGO.com), that appears to not be the case as they’ve laid off an enormous amount of 1up’s previous staff. Also, to add insult to injury, Ziff Davis has canned EGM in the process.

What’s aggravating about UGO acquiring 1up is that they essentially purchased it and killed it off around the same time. It appears as if UGO simply wanted the 1up name in order to drive more attention to its site (which currently isn’t a major force in the internet world). Also, even though it’s no secret that EGM has been a magazine of questionable quality for the past six years, I still hate to see a magazine I grew up reading be put to an end.

Oh well, that’s the way the business world runs. The popularity of print magazines have been declining for years now in our Internet age, and I’d expect some of the few remaining U.S. game-based magazines to suffer the same fate within the next couple of years. As long as Europe continues to provide us with quality video game magazines then I’ll still be a somewhat satisfied man…

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