In what probably constitutes the end of an era, Gamepro.com has announced that it will shot down its operations on Monday, December 5th. More information below:

IGN said:

GamePro announced today that it will shut down on Monday, December 5th. The following was posted as a statement on gamepro.com: "Thank you for your loyalty, support, and participation in the GamePro.com community. At noon on December 5, 2011, the U.S. version of GamePro online will shut down as an independent site. GamePro will become part of PCWorld.com offering gaming news, reviews, and how-tos from the PCWorld team. Thank you to the entire GamePro staff for their hard work and dedication."

GamePro has been producing content in magazine form since 1989, and expanded to gamepro.com in 1996. The magazine became a quarterly publication earlier this year. Many of us at IGN have followed GamePro for years, and we wish nothing but the best of luck to its staff.

IGN

CBS said:

After 22-years in the business, GamePro magazine announced that they will be closing up shop on Dec. 5.
The team posted this statement on the website.

"Thank you for your loyalty, support, and participation in the GamePro.com community. At noon on December 5, 2011, the U.S. version of GamePro online will shut down as an independent site. GamePro will become part of PCWorld.com, offering gaming news, reviews, and how-tos from the PCWorld team. Thank you to the entire GamePro staff for their hard work and dedication."
In July, the magazine went from a monthly magazine to a quarterly. Unfortunately, that model didn't work.

"Ad dollars just weren't there, and unfortunately layoffs of staff are being implemented," an IDG spokesperson told IndustryGamers. There is no official count of who is being laid off and who is being folded into PC World, but a source close to the matter has told me that most, if not all, of the staff will be laid off. As far as I know, no one is moving over to PC World.

From what it sounds like, GamePro will shift to be a more business-to-business solution, publishing event-based magazines. GamePro's current president, Marci Yamaguchi Hughes, will be at the helm of a new venture into custom publishing. IDG will maintain ownership of the brand.

"We did our best to make the best content we could, but unfortunately it wasn't our call to shut down the magazine," reviews editor Will Herring told me over the phone. As a matter of fact, they doubled their web traffic over the last year and were doing quite well.

I heard from a staffer that GamePro's sales team was let go and ad sales shifted to PC World and MacWorld, which are both consumer electronics magazines. The staffer speculated that a technology-based sales team wasn't equipped to work in the ecosystem of the video game world.

GamePro magazine's first issue was published in May 1989. It was one of the first national video game magazines. At the height of its popularity, it was the No. 1 young men's magazine, over Sports Illustrated. Its final issue will be in Nov.

On a personal note, I was the copy editor at GamePro from 2006 to 2008. It was incredibly difficult to see the staff deteriorate over the years to handle the decline of print media.

Thanks for the memories, GamePro. I would've never delved into Halo or Counter-Strike without you guys. I wish you all the best of luck. Oh, and my handle? Rebel Princess.

CBS

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That sucks even though I didn't read the magazine. Didn't they shut down once already and then come back? Or maybe that's another magazine I'm thinking of.

Posted by

WrathOfSamus777

on: 12/01/11, 07:10

I Actually still own a few of their magazines from years and years ago...back in the early-mid 1990's.

Posted by

gamewizard65

on: 12/01/11, 07:12

EGM, NP and GamePro used to be my main three of gaming mags as a kid. Even though from what I understand GP was a shell of its former self, still sad to see it go.

Posted by

chrisbg99

on: 12/01/11, 08:44

Farewell, fun-factor friends.

Posted by

ploot

on: 12/01/11, 09:21

Edited:

12/01/11, 09:22

Sad but not surprising. Print media is suffering staggering losses in revenue as more and more people turn to online to consume information.

Heck, I used to subscribe too lots of magazines and newspapers, but now only stick with National Geographic and The Economist.

Posted by

New Forms

on: 12/01/11, 12:39

@chrisbg99

Is EGM still kicking?

Posted by

DrFinkelstein

on: 12/01/11, 13:12

I'm actually surprised that this hadn't happened already.

Still a sad day anyways. I used to read GamePro all the time back in the mid 90s.

Posted by

TheBigG753

on: 12/01/11, 13:58

EGM died in early 2009, but then came back from the dead last year under new ownership. Unfortunately it looks like EGM will soon be gone once again because while browsing the magazine racks the other day I noticed that the magazine is now bi-monthly.

Posted by

canonj

on: 12/01/11, 14:39

Edited:

12/01/11, 14:40

Aw, dammit. I was enjoying Kat Bailey's "Roleplayers' Realm" podcast. Many talented people worked there. I wish them the best.

Posted by

Guillaume

on: 12/01/11, 15:07

@canonj

Thanks for the info. I loved EGM back in the day. Swore by it. Paired it with Nintendo Power. Then I discovered the likes of early IGN and kinda fell out of magazine reading. However I still hold a Nintendo Power subscription that I enjoy monthly.

Posted by

DrFinkelstein

on: 12/01/11, 15:44

Gamepro... wow. Haven't thought of that mag in a loooong time. I used to get issues in the mail all the time as a kid... I remember enjoying it for the most part. But as I got older I think I kind of "out grew" the publication and moved on to stuff like EGM and even the Official Playstation Magazine.

Of course, that was all pre-internet days. After I found sites like Daily Radar and IGN, buying magazines ended up being such a dumb idea IMO. The times, they-a change.

Rest in peace, Gamepro.

Posted by

GameDadGrant

on: 12/01/11, 17:18

@GameDadGrant

Ooh, a fellow Daily Radar fan!

That site was the best. Introduced me to Miyazaki, Kevin Smith... yeah, I paid more attention to their movie reviews than anything else back then.

Posted by

Guillaume

on: 12/01/11, 17:45

@ploot

so true... i really liked reading their reviews/magazines back in the day...and I mean late 90's.

oh well... RIP GP

Posted by

Smerd

on: 12/02/11, 02:24

@ploot

Aww, man! You brought back so many memories with just one phrase. I'll miss GamePro.

Posted by

Abdooooo

on: 12/02/11, 06:10

@Smerd

...dammit that avatar is still too smexy.

* cough *

It really is sad to see them go. Like pretty much everyone here, I read them and EGM back in the 90s a hell of a lot. Kind of a fixture of my childhood.

I've got a drawer full of old EGms, Nintendo Power, GamePro, NewType and other mags from long ago. Sad to see GamePro's gone again.

@Abdooooo

Honestly, they had one of the best rating systems, even if I didn't always agree. I knew at a glance what they thought of a game without some crazy numbers game involved.

@canonj

That would be sad to hear, but yeah, not surprising.

Posted by

roknin

on: 12/02/11, 20:05

Pro tip: Stop sucking.

Posted by

Deerock69

on: 12/02/11, 21:06

I really liked Davison's revamp. It had some interesting articles. Magazines are kind of a relic, which is a bit sad. I'm scared to subscribe to stuff now, because you never know when the sword (of Damocles!) will fall.

Posted by

Anand

on: 12/03/11, 01:24