1up sold to Hearst to become part of UGO. EGM closed for good.

[Firestorm]

I don't know if there are any other fans of the 1up Network, but some really sad news hit yesterday. Ziff Davis Media sold 1up to Hearst. EGM was not part of the deal and the last issue will be the final issue. Their 20th anniversary issue which was due next month will be available maybe as a PDF, but things are not looking good for the print version. No clue what will happen to subscriptions.

The following people are no longer with the company effective yesterday:
Adrian Frieg
Amy Mishra
Amy Moran
Andrea Garcia
Andrew Fitch
Andrew "Skip" Pfister
Anthony Gallegos
Cesar Quintero
Christina Rosa
CoyLou Steel
Derek Chinn
Doug Parsons
Eric Ellis
Giancarlo Varanini
Greg Ford
James "Milkman" Mielke
Jason Bertrand
Jason Wilson
Jervilyn Jaramillo
Justin Frechette
Leslie Gelfand
Marci Yamaguchi
Matt Chandronait
May Tong
Meredith Stowe
Michael Donahoe
Monique Convertito
Ndubuisi Madu
Nick Suttner
Norris Boothe
Philip Kollar
Rey Serrano
Robert Bowen
Rosemary Pinkham
Ryan O'Donnell
Ryan Scott
Shane Bettenhausen
Simon Cox
Tammy Ross
Tipler Ubbelohde

If you pay attention to the best parts of the site, the video and podcast side, you'll notice they just slashed basically their entire staff for that alongside EGM. 1up Podcasts and the 1up Show are effectively cancelled. They might try to revive some podcasts, but the show seems dead for sure.

Really sad imo =( One of the only large gaming websites with actual personality and geared towards gamers. I only got into 1up Yours podcast in August but it did make my commute a lot better and I'll miss it dearly.

Goodbye 1up as we knew you.

There have been a lot of lay-offs in this "recession-proof" industry as of late. Another major one that happened in the last month was that of Free Radical. The staff showed up for work and could not get into the building. They were locked out. They were all out of a job. Free Radical was the company formed from the Perfect Dark and Goldeneye staff. They developed the TimeSplitters series and Haze.

 

[Atlas]

it really is a shame, egm was one of better/best gaming magazines

 

[Peachfuzz]

I never go to 1up, but EGM is the only gaming magazine I read. Please no...

Terrible thing to see happen. Hopefully Hearst will please gamers and fans of EGM and 1up.

 

[Darkflagrance]

I assume we can thank the recession for this?

 

[Firestorm]

The recession has a part, definitely. Companies are spending less on advertising which affects the media a lot. The other aspect is that Ziff Davis Media was a horribly managed company.

 

[bUk L4o]

Sorry for 1up but I think IGN is better.

 

[Firestorm]

I'm not a fan of IGN. IGN Nintendo is a joke with Matt C making up shitty rumours and getting gullible fans all riled up (HEY GUYS KID ICARUS I SAW IT AND IT'S REALLY HAPPENING!!!!!!!!!!!!! ANNOUNCED THIS E3 MAYBE). IGN 360 has Hilary Goldstein who's also a complete joke. Haven't paid attention to IGN PlayStation much. They hired Jessica Chobot who's a talentless hack who got a job by licking a PSP and doing an interview with their softcore porn team.

Not to mention I find it hard to trust a website that actively pursues exclusive review deals with publishers (getting a review earlier than other publications in exchange for a minimum score). Being owned by Fox doesn't help either.

Between GameSpot and IGN, I do prefer IGN. But hey, it's not hard to win a fight against a company that fired their top editor because he reviewed advertisers' games lower than they wanted. I guess the positive from that ordeal was http://www.giantbomb.com which I hear good things about. Maybe the 1up people will start something like that.

 

[Grey]

anyone else listen to rebel fm? they're planning on producing a video of some sort, possibly continuing the 1up show but for a fee. rip 1up show and egm.
eat-sleep-game.com for info about rebel fm.

 

[Firestorm]

I downloaded it yeah. I'll probably listen to it weekly now. I loved the part where they were wondering about bandwidth issues and how long they'd be able to host it there. Their site went down within 5 minutes of posting it.

 

[Wishy]

That kinda sucks, but I never really went though so I will probably forget about this in a few hours.

And the whole thing with Free Radical, they haven't gone bankrupt, they are just having problems paying their bills / debts and stuff, so they had to make massive cuts and whatnot to get by. Hopefully they don't go under, cause I really want TimeSplitters 4 to be released. :(

 

[Firestorm]

Well it wouldn't be by the same team =( The company that's taking care of their debts and stuff is thinking of selling the properties owned by Free Radical seperately.

 

[Wishy]

Well it wouldn't be by the same team =( The company that's taking care of their debts and stuff is thinking of selling the properties owned by Free Radical seperately.

Gaahhh that would completely suck, I don't think another team could do the TimeSplitters justice.

 

[Sockz]

Ah, wow, always sad to see an old standby like EGM go under. Here's hoping Free Radical makes it through mostly unscathed, they put out some excellent FPS.

 

[Firestorm]

This was supposed to be the last issue of EGM. Which the higher-ups made them keep working on without telling them that it would never be published in print. It should be up in hi-res PDF soon:

 

[Grey]

Yeah on rebel fm they said they might make prints of these and sign them to auction them off. But I don't know if they can do it legally. :(

 

[Pink]

but... but... EGM.... :'(

No more BRILLIANT April Fools jokes... No more Sean Baby's "rest of the crap"... No more well thought out reviews and witty letters section? This can't be true. I'm truly and honestly crushed with this news. I can't believe this.

 

[Fishin]

That's really disappointing news, I thought that 1UP's reviews tended to be great and realistic. The part about Free Radical is even worse, though. RIP Timesplitters 4 :(

 

[Firestorm]

For those who miss The 1up Show. Both Episode 1 and 2 of Co-op are out on YouTube. That's the new show that they've started up. Ryan Scott has started up www.geekbox.net while the 1up FM guys are on www.eat-sleep-game.com

 

[Firestorm]

Update on Free Radical: Crytek (Far Cry, Crysis) just bought them. So TimeSplitters is still alive. No clue what will happen to those who were previously laid off.

 

[Sonuis]

Wow, no comments about the Mega 64 video?