Computer Games Magazine

A tribute

from GalCiv2 Forums

Early last week the publisher of Computer Games Magazine informed us that the magazine was going to be shut-down effectively immediately.

Of the big three American PC game publications (PC Gamer, Games for Windows, and Computer Games Magazine), CGM had a long history of covering strategy games in-depth even when they were smaller companies.  It used to be called "Strategy Plus" long ago and that it would cover what we were doing when we were just getting started really helped out a lot.

You could also trust the reviews from CGM. Editor-in-Chief Steve Bauman took no prisoners when it came to reviews which was a pretty scary thing for game developers (such as myself). But as a gamer, I appreciated that I could get the full story from CGM.

I still hold out hope that some other publisher may pick up CGM. But for now, it looks like one of the best PC game publications of all time is gone.  To fellow fans of CGM, we share your pain.  We will miss CGM.

12,131 views 12 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Sad to see Computer Games Magazine go down.
Back in the mid/late 80's & early/mid 90's I used to get all my PC gaming news from Strategy Plus, CGW and PC Format.
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Agreed, RoPa. All through the 90's especially they were a "must-read" when it came to PC games.

Alongside dwindling PC game shelf space in shops like Gamestop/EB Games, many PC game-centeric magazines will also dwindle and fade. Print media, in general, is on a decline. I know...I work in a weekly regional newspaper. It gets a little harder every year to find new advertisers and to keep circulation at a profitable level.

This generation is all about the internet and the blog for getting their information and they can find it so much faster than a monthly magazine or a weekly newspaper.
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Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I started my subsription back during it's "Stratagy Plus" days, teh cost was extremly low fr the amount of content that it had. I personally think the magazine started to go down hill once they changed formats (around 2002 or so).

Still, it will be missed. Shine on you crazy diamond!
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Never read it since i'm located in the Northern countries but if most gamers think they're the best, why are they shutting down and not the one of the other PCgame magazines?

Would be nice to know if the good guys at that magazine get jobs at some other magazine or site though.

Btw, do you got free game magazines in the states?
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Never read it since i'm located in the Northern countries but if most gamers think they're the best, why are they shutting down and not the one of the other PCgame magazines?


Any number of reasons, including, but not limited to:

*Increase of internet review sites that offer material for free, and that material much faster due to not being limited by paper publishing and shipping.

*Casual gamers not wanting an in depth review magazine, but instead are more interested in a magazine that is lighter on content, but heavier on fluff.

*The massive lawsuit thier parent company is facing WWW Link
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Hmmm, can't think of the last time I bought a Games Mag, it's got to be a couple of years, I've taken to getting all my games info from the internet aswell as any demo's.

Am I responsible for the decline in the PC Mag industry?   
Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Ohh.. Good old Strategy Plus. Used to buy magazines before I got internet. It's a bit sad.

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Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Guys you must look at the bright side of all things, saving more trees! Thats the purpose of the internet you know! Internet = Tree God
Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Well, that just stinks - but it seemed like it was coming based on some of the editorial comments (I seem to remember a recent plea for subscribers). I happen to subscribe to and read cover to cover The Big 3 PC gaming mags. I think each does some things better than the others but I have never once over the past 5 years I've subscribed to all 3 thought about cancelling any of them. Sure I skim GameSpot, GameSpy, IGN etc. but I found the mags to be overal superior in their coverage and reviews (not universally but on average). Being an old gamer (34 years old, been gaming since 1979) I guess I'm still hanging on to the past with my tree killing mags...
Reply #10 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Rock on Mr. Bauman... Rock on. It was a good magazine, one that focused on games and not hype and fluff. You shall be missed.

So say we all.
Reply #11 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I really like CGM as well.  It was one of the first, if not the first games magazine I was an avid reader of.


Reply #12 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I belatedly just discovered this post. I'm disappointed to hear this news, but not that surprised. In recent times, the Computer Games Magazine had gotten unhealthily thin and started adding console coverage.

CGM used to be my favorite games magazine all the way back to the Strategy Plus days. I really respect Steve Bauman, and thought that his magazine usually provided the most mature games coverage (ie: written towards mature adults rather than teens), but after the changes there, I let my subscription lapse. Sadly, I just bought the latest issue and thought it had improved enough to try it again and consider resubscribing. I guess that won't be happening. Bummer.