World of Warcraft...in a Magazine?
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Admin on Thursday, August 20, 2009 - 9 Comments Tags: blizzcon, future us, magazine, print media, subscription, warcraft, wow
Admin on Thursday, August 20, 2009 - 9 Comments Tags: blizzcon, future us, magazine, print media, subscription, warcraft, wow 
When I read on Ars Technica that Future US (publisher of gaming magazines like PC Gamer, Nintendo Power and the Official Xbox Magazine) would be dedicating an entire magazine to World of WarCraft, please excuse while I chuckle with a little skepticism.
The magazine will be introduced at BlizzCon this weekend where fans can subscribe at an annual rate (at four issues a year mind you) of $39.95, £29.95, or €34.95. It will feature no ads, and be given Blizzard's blessing (so it's an official WoW magazine) and will only print as many copies as they have subscribers (so you won't see this at your local bookstore).
With the economy in the state it is though, $40 a year (quarterly, four issues a year) is a very tough sell. How can this magazine possibly have information that will not be found online on blogs like Project Lore? Item databases such as WoW Head are full of so much information and sites like Boss Killers have all the strategies needed and are all products of the millions of players in the WoW community. How can a WoW magazine possibly get a foothold in an arguably already crowded market of WoW related media?
The biggest help that this magazine has for it is that Blizzard is officially behind it and could possibly give them exclusive information and possibly even exclusive items (the latter would, I think, really sell magazines). The hope is that this will be an in-depth look at the game and get quotes from the developers themselves about news topics and important issues related to World of WarCraft. Their connection with Blizzard will also allow them to have a strong marketing angle, being able to sell your magazine right on the official World of WarCraft website, along with it (most likely) showing up in the launcher (maybe I'm the only one who still uses it?) could really help push copies.
There would have to be some pretty strong incentives to get me to cough up $40 a year for a magazine, much less one that only comes every three months. What do you think? Will you be picking this up? If not, what would they have to offer to get you to pick it up?
Reader Comments (9)
I hope that they do the same around the globe as I'd sign up for a subscription purely for collectors attitude especially if they are subscribers only, and at $10 per issue it could deter those with not alot of disposable income.
thats pretty cool, id definitely subscribe
The only way I'd buy it is if they came out with more issues than four a year at a cheaper price and could guarantee exclusive info that could absolutely not be found elsewhere online. Otherwise, it's just a waste of time and resources.
and how long do you think itl be before some douchebag spreads said exclusive info on the internet? This mag has no chance of surviving in this era where ppl have no respect for authors,artists and whatnot
Well the idea of a World of Warcraft-dedicated magazine works great, at least here in Sweden where I live. It comes out six times a year and it contains everything that we see online, tactics for bosses and all that stuff. But, it puts it in a neat, compressed format, which makes it alot easier to fathom if you ask me. Maybe that will work in the US as well?
Beckett MOG has already done this. They have 3 or 4 issues of "The Ultimate Guide to World of Warcraft", which is also priced at $9.99 an issue. It's ok, meaning it's nice to have leveling and crafting guides handy in print form when you're trying to get through those painful character and crafting levels, but seriously, most of the time having Thottbot, WoW Head, TTH, or WoWiki up on my other pc while I was gaming sufficed just as well, and didn't require any extra cash. The game doesn't change frequently enough to have a magazine dedicated to it when a free website will often suffice.
Seeing that Future Publishing is behind the magazine is reassuring. They have quite a few successful magazines, including Edge Magazine, which I still feel is the best games magazine around.
I'll probably subscribe. See what it brings in the first year.
H-town have been bublishing a magazine for long time now in Finland..3rd issue of the magazine just came to stores
When you subscribe at BlizzCon, you get a free murloc plushie. (Not the Jinx one.) SOLD!