'I'm Not Trying to Ignore Digital, I'm counting on it': Big Ideas Behind the Relaunch of EGM
June 26, 2009 By Thorin McGee
When Ziff Davis shuttered Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM) in January, most observers saw just one more sign of the print apocalypse. The company easily found a buyer for the title's main online asset, www.1up.com, but the rights to EGM itself, even online, languished. No one wanted to invest in the magazine with over 500,000 readers and a bulletproof editorial reputation in the 21st century's most explosive media market (bigger than movies and music combined).
No one except STEVE HARRIS, who started the magazine more than 20 years ago with the proceeds from organizing a professional video game tournament.
In May, Harris acquired the rights to EGM in all formats and announced plans to relaunch in print later this year. To many, that will sound like purchasing the Titanic while bobbing in its lifeboats. But Harris just might have the future vision print magazines so desperately need.
INBOX: Conventional wisdom says print magazines are taking a beating and that high-tech readers especially are moving away from print. What signs do you see that the print version of EGM has life left in it?
STEVE HARRIS: I would remind you that at the time [Ziff Davis suspended publication of EGM], it had an audience of more than half a million readers. I believe there still exists an audience that enjoys print ... . Web sites are a great tool when you know what information you want to read. A Web site is less effective at providing information and insight that the reader may not have known they had an interest in before turning the page. ...
For various reasons, some publishers are being forced into choices between formats (especially print and online) instead of finding a way for the various media formats to complement each other. ... What hasn't appeared in the gaming category is a platform designed to appeal to both types of readers in a single product. Some see digital as an obstacle to print. I don't. I'm not trying to ignore what digital does -- I'm counting on it.
INBOX: What's it going to take for this magazine to succeed today?
HARRIS: I think if we were simply re-introducing the previous product, we would find some level of success based upon the magazine's history, the strength of the brand, and the fact that you're talking to an audience that collectively comprises a $20 billion industry. It's bigger than movies and music combined.
But what we're doing is something more than just a magazine. Between the print and digital content, and the way we're integrating both, we're going to give consumers, retailers and advertisers new ways to communicate with each other. We're also creating new streams of revenue for our company to help mitigate the risk to the traditional publishing models.
INBOX: Do opportunities exist now that you didn't have when you last helmed EGM?
HARRIS: Absolutely! As I said earlier, there was no appetite to simply relaunch a print publication, even one I felt as close to as EGM. ... I would say that the new opportunities have less to do with the differences in the technology available than the maturing of those delivery platforms. You couldn't hope to do things like video streaming when 99 percent of your audience was on dial-up.
INBOX: What kinds of changes are you exploring?
HARRIS: First and foremost, we're planning to incorporate digital content within the magazine. This includes professionally-produced video, audio and other types of content. We're also going to make this content fully transportable. ... There's now a heightened consumer interest in the transportability of information and using applications to do things like read content on an iPhone. We benefit not only from the technology but from the consumer's willingness to use it. The new Electronic Gaming Monthly will let you take your magazine and its content from print to computer to wireless devices -- even to your television -- as well as enable subscribers and single-copy purchasers to enhance that experience every step of the way. We are embracing that reality [and] will enable it and encourage it.
INBOX: You just mentioned that the new EGM will use digital media in a new way. What does that mean and how is it going to work?
HARRIS: The digital content will be accessible by some directly from the pages of the magazine while other content will be delivered via a digital device included with each issue (that, as I said before, could be used with computers, televisions, etc.). I wouldn't want to over-hype the methods that will be used -- no individual element of what we'll be offering is unique on its own -- but the way in which each delivery mechanism will interact with the other, as well as the programming we have to identify our end-reader and their interests, is new.
The digital content will not only include additional information that complements the print edition, but also will allow consumers to take the magazine across multiple media formats, receive updates, and interact in magazine, video or other formats.
In the future, I believe it won't just be a question of the kind of information a publication provides, but what kind of delivery systems it uses that will contribute to a title's relevance. I think we're in a good position, armed with an excellent brand, to compete with other print magazines in the category as well as capture a share of those readers who are turning to the Internet for their gaming information and community experience.
No one except STEVE HARRIS, who started the magazine more than 20 years ago with the proceeds from organizing a professional video game tournament.
In May, Harris acquired the rights to EGM in all formats and announced plans to relaunch in print later this year. To many, that will sound like purchasing the Titanic while bobbing in its lifeboats. But Harris just might have the future vision print magazines so desperately need.
INBOX: Conventional wisdom says print magazines are taking a beating and that high-tech readers especially are moving away from print. What signs do you see that the print version of EGM has life left in it?
STEVE HARRIS: I would remind you that at the time [Ziff Davis suspended publication of EGM], it had an audience of more than half a million readers. I believe there still exists an audience that enjoys print ... . Web sites are a great tool when you know what information you want to read. A Web site is less effective at providing information and insight that the reader may not have known they had an interest in before turning the page. ...
For various reasons, some publishers are being forced into choices between formats (especially print and online) instead of finding a way for the various media formats to complement each other. ... What hasn't appeared in the gaming category is a platform designed to appeal to both types of readers in a single product. Some see digital as an obstacle to print. I don't. I'm not trying to ignore what digital does -- I'm counting on it.
INBOX: What's it going to take for this magazine to succeed today?
HARRIS: I think if we were simply re-introducing the previous product, we would find some level of success based upon the magazine's history, the strength of the brand, and the fact that you're talking to an audience that collectively comprises a $20 billion industry. It's bigger than movies and music combined.
But what we're doing is something more than just a magazine. Between the print and digital content, and the way we're integrating both, we're going to give consumers, retailers and advertisers new ways to communicate with each other. We're also creating new streams of revenue for our company to help mitigate the risk to the traditional publishing models.
INBOX: Do opportunities exist now that you didn't have when you last helmed EGM?
HARRIS: Absolutely! As I said earlier, there was no appetite to simply relaunch a print publication, even one I felt as close to as EGM. ... I would say that the new opportunities have less to do with the differences in the technology available than the maturing of those delivery platforms. You couldn't hope to do things like video streaming when 99 percent of your audience was on dial-up.
INBOX: What kinds of changes are you exploring?
HARRIS: First and foremost, we're planning to incorporate digital content within the magazine. This includes professionally-produced video, audio and other types of content. We're also going to make this content fully transportable. ... There's now a heightened consumer interest in the transportability of information and using applications to do things like read content on an iPhone. We benefit not only from the technology but from the consumer's willingness to use it. The new Electronic Gaming Monthly will let you take your magazine and its content from print to computer to wireless devices -- even to your television -- as well as enable subscribers and single-copy purchasers to enhance that experience every step of the way. We are embracing that reality [and] will enable it and encourage it.
INBOX: You just mentioned that the new EGM will use digital media in a new way. What does that mean and how is it going to work?
HARRIS: The digital content will be accessible by some directly from the pages of the magazine while other content will be delivered via a digital device included with each issue (that, as I said before, could be used with computers, televisions, etc.). I wouldn't want to over-hype the methods that will be used -- no individual element of what we'll be offering is unique on its own -- but the way in which each delivery mechanism will interact with the other, as well as the programming we have to identify our end-reader and their interests, is new.
The digital content will not only include additional information that complements the print edition, but also will allow consumers to take the magazine across multiple media formats, receive updates, and interact in magazine, video or other formats.
In the future, I believe it won't just be a question of the kind of information a publication provides, but what kind of delivery systems it uses that will contribute to a title's relevance. I think we're in a good position, armed with an excellent brand, to compete with other print magazines in the category as well as capture a share of those readers who are turning to the Internet for their gaming information and community experience.
Probably means a CD that comes with the magazine, in the plastic baggies that accompanied it as a teaser with different images, more headlines, and to provide a poster or something, how they used to add to the magazine.
Those CD's were pretty cool, with the Advantage Videogame, namely Megaman 2, music and live play videos on them as well as some Mega 64 video games in public spoof/not put down pranks. Walking around dressed as Ryo from Shenmue asking where the sailors are for example.
Hope EGM is back in business taking my subcript. again soon.
As a long time EGM subscriber (11 years) I am extremely excited about the re-release of the magazine. Hopefully this "re-birth" will usher a new era for a healthy combination of print and web. And I think that getting those 1/2 million subscribers back won't be too difficult.
"... to computer to wireless devices -- even to your television..."
Very interesting. I just hope the new subscription is at a reasonable price (i.e., Wired's price point is usually $11 a year... this would be a good model to go off of), because many people are without job security at this point.
Can't wait to see what comes next from EGM.