Video game magazines are overpriced

One of my greatest joys in life used to be getting my EGM in the mail every month. Every ounce of video game info I got came from magazines. I would read them over and over until the next month's ones came out.

Then along came the internet. Print mags naturally can't keep up with instant information. Not to mention magazines keep increasing in price. It gets to the point where the only time I feel like I get my money's worth out of a gaming mag is when it has a really good demo disc. The downside is that magazines with demo discs cost several dollars more. We are paying several dollars more for a demo disc, i.e. a piece of advertising.

I think video game magazines are overpriced. Agree? Disagree?

Yeah all of these mags should go online ala IGN.:)

From what I've heard the mag market isn't doing too well these days, the recent deaths of GF,GR, GG,and NG are examples of this.

No one's buying them, even with the demo discs.

Most mags will go away within 5 years. The demo disc mags might stay around in a more limited form. I think publishers might move to putting magazine contents on the demo discs, then just selling the disc -- it's cheaper, plus they can pull off perceived "value" with a $5-$7 demo disc, like the Jampacks.

Interesting idea, Lhadatt, but a disc can't yet beat a paper mag for ease of use and convenient toilet access. Print mags will be around for a long, long time.

It's funny, subscribing to magazines (such as EGM) actually costs about half as much in 2003 as it did in 1991. Also, the circulation bases for mags like EGM, GI and GamePro have never been larger.

GameFan was the most expensive mag during its time.

Seems about the same to me. With a mag like EGM, even a one year sub costs like $1.50 an issue, which is worth flipping through on the can a few times. Even at full retail price, it's still around $5, right?
Specialty mags like GameFan were always more expensive, sadly they aren't around anymore.

On the other hand, we could have something like Cosmo or other women's mags where the price is cheaper (around $3 I think) but 75% is filled with ads.

Yeh, the magazines are way too overpriced...

Back home in my parents house in the attic I have a few boxes full of old game magazines. When I was a teenager I had far less money but I bought a whole lot more magazines. Nowadays you just don't seem to get full value for them - in part because the price and in part because, well, for the most part they're all pretty stinky. :p

In spite of that I would consider to subscribing to one though.... if it was not for the fact that they usually unjustifiably rape Canadians by bumping up the subscribtion fee an absurd amount. I won't support that.

*pulls 1991 EGM out of closet*

$23.95($34.95 in Canada and Mexico) for a year.

What's the subscription price today?

My point was that, for me personally, the value I get from a magazine has gone down considerably from the '80's/early '90's so even if they are the same price today, I don't get my money's worth.

I also don't see why magazines with demo discs should cost that much more. Aren't the companies paying to have their games on the discs?

Quote:

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Originally posted by NeoZeedeater
I also don't see why magazines with demo discs should cost that much more. Aren't the companies paying to have their games on the discs?

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Considering how mind-wobblingly bad OPM is - I think I'd actually pay more to have the disc come w/o the mag. :p