Game Informer
Game Informer has just published a message revealing that it has been shut down by its parent company GameStop, the video game store turned meme stock.
In the message, Game Informer thanks its readers over its 33 years of existence, and I count myself among them. The message reads as follows:
“After 33 thrilling years of bringing you the latest news, reviews, and insights from the ever-evolving world of gaming, it is with a heavy heart that we announce the closure of Game Informer.
From the early days of pixelated adventures to today’s immersive virtual realms, we’ve been honored to share this incredible journey with you, our loyal readers. While our presses may stop, the passion for gaming that we’ve cultivated together will continue to live on.
Thank you for being part of our epic quest, and may your own gaming adventures never end.”
The announcement was followed by the confirmation that yes, everyone at Game Informer has been laid off as of about noon today, with some staff not even aware of the news yet if they haven’t checked social media. Content Director Kyle Hilliard says they were 70% done with the next issue. As of now, GameStop itself has not publicly commented on the shutdown.
The writing may have been on the wall for quite some time as Game Informer kept cutting staff down to the bone, forcing perilously few people to produce a magazine and online content to compete with larger outlets. Currently, games media is some rough combination of:
- Giant conglomerates like Ziff Davis/Gamurs scooping up loads of major and minor sites to try and better eat internet traffic.
- Sites shutting down altogether.
- A lucky few doing paid newsletters or sites independently.
- Large mainstream outlets (like me) with a gaming section.
In short, it’s tough out there.
Game Informer was unique as a physical magazine, one sold through GameStop itself. GameStop has gone through bizarre transformations in the last years as it tries to survive as a physical game store in the digital world, which involves fewer games on the shelves and a lot more hardware and toys. Now, famously, GME has been the subject of meme stock legend, swinging wildly around since 2021 as amateur investors tried to get rich from it (and some did). I doubt today’s closure of Game Informer even registers there.
Some of my earliest gaming memories are of reading Game Informer alongside whatever I was playing at the time, and over time, the editors began to feel like friends I knew. It was bizarre twenty years later when I was able to start chatting with a few of them online, now in the industry myself. It remains my fondest memory of any form of gaming journalism, and those who were left deserved better than what GameStop had given them these last years. It will be missed, deeply.
Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.
Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
