Just in my mailbox this afternoon:
Dear Subscriber,
The World of Warcraft Official Magazine is ending its run, and the current issue, #5, will be the last one.
This has been a difficult decision to come to. Although both Blizzard Entertainment and Future US are very proud of the magazines that we have created together, we have each decided to focus our efforts on other areas.
We really appreciate your support for the magazine and would like to offer you a premium based on your remaining subscription term, or, if you prefer, a full refund of your remaining balance instead. To redeem your premium or request a refund, please visit www.worldofwarcraftthemagazine.com by September 30, 2011.
On the website, you’ll need to input the following code to access your options:
[Code removed… mine, not yours!]
(Please be aware this code is non-transferable and can only be used once.)
Again, we would like to thank you for your continued support and hope you enjoy reading issue 5 as much as we enjoyed making it.
With thanks,
Future US and Blizzard Entertainment
Well, I wonder what brought that on?
2 weeks notice to think on their offer on my remaining subscription. Here is what they are giving out:
Worth $95 They Say
Or I can, if I follow the very tiny fine print at the bottom of the page, just get my money back, which should be about $60.
Accepting your special offer eliminates the possibility of getting a refund.
Some WoW pets and another magazine, or cash… that will no doubt take forever to arrive?
The Ancient Gaming Noob 
We’re just finishing up EON #026. Just sayin’
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@Zapatero – I was thinking it already!
But if you do fold, as a subscriber will I get a monocle?
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My mistake, we’re only on #025.
Given what I know of Blizzard and Future (and I’ve worked alongside both companies) I would put money on the fact that the magazine has closed purely because it was a bureaucratic nightmare to deal with in terms of authorising content. It probably didn’t sell in the numbers that both companies hoped for either, which wouldn’t have helped matters.
EON just about “wipes it’s own nose” (as my boss likes to say). I don’t think it’s days are quite numbered, but we shall have to evolve things soon. That’s the great thing about being a small publisher though – our overheads are relatively low and because EON is for us a core product, we will fight for it and change things around if we have to. Sadly, for us, CCP haven’t quite remained the lithe, adaptable outfit they were when we teamed up – but we’re working on that.
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PC Gamer is still a pretty good magazine.
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Is a 2 year subscription to PC Gamer really only worth $35? That seems extremely cheap. The UK version costs something like £50 a year.
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Somebody (Irish Tom?) at one point posted a comment with a link about the editorial shenanigans that Future US had to put up with.
However, because it had a link in it, it went to the spam folder and it was one of those mornings when my brain was working in reverse so I clicked the “empty spam folder” button and THEN my brain started processing what was in it.
And so my thoughts were something like, “Oh, I should go look… oh crap.”
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@Wilhelm
Given your experience with the magazine overall what would you grade it?
Then what would your grade be if you removed the delivery issues?
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The situational irony of the WoW magazine folding is that they are offering WoW in-game pets as compensation for the remains of people’s subscription. Yet, had they offered a unique pet with, say, each yearly subscription, the magazine would have been too successful to shut down.
@Random Poster – All in all I thought the magazine was very good, as far as such magazines go. Production values were top notch and there was stuff in each issue that interested me, that I read completely, and which I could not find by just going to the web. The latter is the usual case for me with magazines these days. They have to fall back on depth and analysis if they want to survive, since I get the headlines every day on the net.
I resubscribed after my first year ran out because I enjoyed the magazine.
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I’m not sure, but I wonder if you meant this article Wilhelm: http://bunnyears.net/dan/?p=1184
(fingers crossed this doesn’t get purged from the Spam-filter too ;) )
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Yes, that was the one. Thank you.
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