Game Informer To Shut Down After GameStop Pulls The Plug On The Popular Magazine
Written by djfrosty on August 6, 2024
Source: Game Informer / Game Informer
For decades gamers heads would rely on Game Informer for all news and information video game related, but over the weekend it was announced that the iconic video game magazine would be no more and interestingly enough GameStop is to blame.
According to Kotaku, Game Informer is officially shutting down effective immediately and the announcement not only caught staffers off guard, but also fans as they’ve grown fond of the publication that began in 1991 (feel old yet?). Game Informer was ultimately purchased by GameStop in 2000, but with the declining sales of physical games over recent years, GameStop has been struggling and in a move to save some money the higher ups decided to shutdown the popular magazine.
Per Kotaku:
Staff at the magazine, which also publishes a website, weekly podcast, and online video documentaries about game studios and developers, were all called into a meeting on Friday with parent company GameStop’s VP of HR. In it they were told the publication was closing immediately, they were all laid off, and would begin receiving severance terms. At least one staffer was in the middle of a work trip when the team was told.
The sudden closure of Game Informer means that issue number 367, the outlet’s Dragon Age: The Veilguard cover story, will be its last. The entire website has been taken offline as well. The Game Informer Twitter account posted the following statement online today, but sources tell Kotaku it was not written by anyone on the team, which was still in the process of making sure everyone on staff was informed about the news.
And just like that, it was done. Note, even the official @gameinformer account on X has been deleted.
It certainly didn’t help that the GameStop CEO was a dedicated Trump supporter who seems to bare similar characteristics to the failed businessman/Insurrectionist-In-Chief.
Game Informer’s closure comes as GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen continues shit-posting about the 2024 election. In an email to staff last year, the executive called for “extreme frugality” and criticized “money wasters” who didn’t contribute to the company or its success. He’s currently being sued by the former company behind Bed, Bath, and Beyond for $47 million in insider trading profits.
RIP Game Informer. Thank you for the decades of video game news and info. You will be missed.