Game Developer magazine closes

Discussion in 'Public Game Developers Forum' started by Kafu, Apr 10, 2013.

  1. AlienSpace

    AlienSpace Well-Known Member

    May 28, 2010
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    Independent developer
    That really sucks!
     
  2. Hercule

    Hercule Well-Known Member

    Dec 16, 2010
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    I just receive a renewal offer :)
    Hopefully I didn't subscribe for another year.
     
  3. Therealtrebitsch

    Therealtrebitsch Well-Known Member

    Mar 2, 2010
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    This is assumable.

    In a few (ten) years there won't be any printed newspaper.
    I don't buy printed media since ~10 years.
    What they can write is already old news.
    Today's information must flow immediatelly. If you can't deliver it within minutes, you are out of business.
     
  4. Kafu

    Kafu Well-Known Member

    GDMag is not a "news" magazine. It has always been a container of state-of-the-art solutions on game development, BTW articles of 4-5 years ago explain top techniques still in use today.
     
  5. Therealtrebitsch

    Therealtrebitsch Well-Known Member

    Mar 2, 2010
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    Then it is simply too much of a niche product to be profitable.
    Then it is even worse for them, becuase the same useful info can be found online too for the next 4-5 years.

    It doesn't matter if it is "newspaper" or "magazin". If they can't be better, than any random Developer Blog, then it doesn'T make sense to stay in business.
     
  6. I guess you never read it...

    GD had tons of stuff that developers never put on their blog. It had huge national and worldwide polls breaking down salary, work hours, etc. every year for a snapshot on the industry. It had post mortems done by producers who never have blogs but provide much better overall pictures of development. It had tons of technical articles that frankly people wouldn't post "for free" simply because of the time required. It had professional reviews of professional (but niche) products.

    Their business model didn't work but it wasn't because their content was available elsewhere. Having a physical magazine was clearly more overhead than they could manage but GD was one of the few places that tried to empower devs rather than force them down the usual path of years of work experience in different studios to develop a broader skillset.
     
  7. AlienSpace

    AlienSpace Well-Known Member

    May 28, 2010
    416
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    I really like GD and will be sad to see it go. I'm sure many (or, most?) of the devs that get it for free would be willing to pay for the subscription if it was a reasonable price. I know I would. I wonder if that would have made a difference in their calculations? Reading stuff online is fine, but I like to have a physical magazine just like I like to have a physical book or comic book. Reading stuff online is just not the same experience.
     
  8. Hercule

    Hercule Well-Known Member

    Dec 16, 2010
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    Well GD Magazin was my favorite "toilet" read :)
    I don't like to bring IPad there...
     

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