Future: Games magazine market "very tough"

Future Publishing has said that its games portfolio, which includes Edge, PC Gamer and official Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft magazines, is facing "very tough" market conditions.

While the firm's titles in other special interest sectors are holding up, it's games – which comprises 30 per cent of group revenue – that is suffering the most.

"Across the Group's portfolio, Future's special-interest titles within the Active, Technology and Music & Movies segments continue to show resilience, while Games continues to experience a very tough market and difficult comparatives," said the publisher in a trading update.

"Advertising in the US, which has more exposure to the games market, remains under pressure."

Last month ABC data revealed sales of games magazines were down significantly, but the company said it would continue to print titles such as PC Zone and NGamer despite the plummeting circulation figures.

In a bid to move into more interactive formats, the publisher is launching a magazine show for PSN called FirstPlay. It also shuffled its games execs with the remit to "expand our business across print, online, events and on-console."

The firm will announce its half-year results to March 31 on May 20.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...ket-very-tough