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Game Informer abruptly shut down after 33 years

The closure affects both the website and the magazine with staff finding out moments before the announcement.

Ozzie Mejia

August 2, 2024 9:50 AM

Game Informer

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A staple in video game media appears to be gone, a development as shocking as it is sudden. On Friday, Game Informer announced that it would shut down after 33 years of service to the gaming world. The news came as a shock to readers, as well as the staff, some of whom found out along with everybody else.

The Game Informer website, as of the time of this post, returns an "unexpected error" and no longer loads. (Update, 10:32AM PT: The website now directs to a landing page of the closure announcement with no way to access to any of its archives.) The following image was posted to the Game Informer X (Twitter) account:

Game Informer, throughout the 90s and 2000s, was considered one of the premier names in gaming publications. Since its formation in August 1991, the monthly publication was found on newsstands and in bookstores everywhere. GameStop purchased the Game Informer publication back in 2000 and soon made it an incentive for GameStop's annual Power Up Rewards membership. The Game Informer website supplemented the magazine's monthly coverage dating back to 2003 and underwent a redesign in 2009. Game Informer was inducted into the 2022 class of the Shacknews Hall of Fame.

Game Informer suffered from layoffs and staff cuts during GameStop's tumultuous 2022 period when the parent company underwent a front office overhaul. The staff carried on despite these setbacks and the subsequent moves from GameStop's leadership. Earlier this year, Game Informer launched a print subscription service separate from GameStop in hopes of raising funding and staying afloat. Unfortunately, it appears that the parent company, which boasts a balance sheet of $4 billion in cash holdings, has instead opted to pull the plug entirely and under the noses of the staff. According to Content Director Kyle Hilliard, Game Informer's next issue was 70 percent complete.

The sudden closure of Game Informer is a developing story and we'll be sure to update it as more information comes in.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?