Official Nintendo Magazine Shuts Down

It was roughly two years ago that the world of gaming journalism was forever changed with the announcement that one of the most oldest, respected gaming publications, Nintendo Power, was shutting down.  Even magazines that were considered its competition were in morning, because Nintendo Power was a trailblazer, essential in establishing gaming journalism not only as a carrier, but it was one of the few pre-internet sources of gaming CULTURE many early gamers could find.   But the times are changing, and with the advancement of social media and the rising price of magazine publication (as well as Nintendo’s faltering popularity) it was kind of inevitable we’d one day see the end of Nintendo Power.

Well, you might not know this, but there was a version of Nintendo Power that continued going: a UK Magazine called Official Nintendo Magazine continued publication after Nintendo Power shut down.  Granted, it didn’t have Nintendo Power’s pedigree, it only started publication back in 2006, but still, it was there.

Well, it’s there no longer.  Following a “joint decision” by Nintendo and UK Publisher Future, Official Nintendo Magazine is ending with it’s last issue this month, October 14^th.  Future will move on to publish other magazines, while Nintendo announced it would focus all of its communication efforts with the fans through Social Media and the Nintendo Direct channel.

Nintendo has been doing a good job shutting down periphery services in the past few years—between it’s magazines, E3 demonstrations, and Let’s Play restrictions,  Nintendo has been casting a tighter and tighter net around the ways people can experience and communicate about their games.  I wonder if it’s really for the best, though…