Five of PC Zone’s staff, including its editor and art guy, have finally tired of Future’s bullshit. Disc Editor Ed Zitron and Chief-Editor-In-Chief-Editor-In-Chief Jamie Sefton have already walked (Zitron responded to a job offer in New York, and Sefton's contract was up), and Editor Will Porter and Best Games Journalist This Country Has Jon Blyth are following. The reason? Take your pick:
The page count and budget have both been slashed. Again. This means the staff writers are going to have to take on more work for the same money, and won’t be able to assign as much out to freelancers. Is this saving being passed onto the readers? Is it fuck – the lower page count means they’re getting less for their money.
The publication frequency is going up to 14 issues a year. Again, this equates to more work for the team, but they’ll still be getting the same money. It also means the regular readers will have to pay for one extra issue a year to get the same amount of content.
The hardware section is written by the same guy who does PC Format’s and PC Gamer’s bit. Once upon a time, PC Zone used to have a reputation as the daring wild child with strong opinions that had no truck with Gamer’s wishy-washy sixth form philosophising. This has naturally been diluted beyond belief since the mag was bought out by Future, but now that chunks of the mag are going to be written by someone from Gamer, any personality it once had is now warmly dribbling down its inside thigh.
Disc Editor Ed Zitron isn’t being replaced because the cover disc is going to be handled in the same way as hardware – so one guy will be dealing with the coasters for several mags. Again, an opportunity could have been taken here to ditch the disc (which died the day everyone got broadband) and lower the price of the mag. It’s no secret that they cost barely pennies, and are only there to justify the fucking silly prices Future charge.
The page count and budget have both been slashed. Again. This means the staff writers are going to have to take on more work for the same money, and won’t be able to assign as much out to freelancers. Is this saving being passed onto the readers? Is it fuck – the lower page count means they’re getting less for their money.
The publication frequency is going up to 14 issues a year. Again, this equates to more work for the team, but they’ll still be getting the same money. It also means the regular readers will have to pay for one extra issue a year to get the same amount of content.
The hardware section is written by the same guy who does PC Format’s and PC Gamer’s bit. Once upon a time, PC Zone used to have a reputation as the daring wild child with strong opinions that had no truck with Gamer’s wishy-washy sixth form philosophising. This has naturally been diluted beyond belief since the mag was bought out by Future, but now that chunks of the mag are going to be written by someone from Gamer, any personality it once had is now warmly dribbling down its inside thigh.
Disc Editor Ed Zitron isn’t being replaced because the cover disc is going to be handled in the same way as hardware – so one guy will be dealing with the coasters for several mags. Again, an opportunity could have been taken here to ditch the disc (which died the day everyone got broadband) and lower the price of the mag. It’s no secret that they cost barely pennies, and are only there to justify the fucking silly prices Future charge.
We’ve been predicting PC Zone’s demise for some time now, but now know that it’s due to keep on running for a while yet. But despite having a special soft spot for the former cool kid, we really wish it had already gone under instead of being centralised, cut-back, sanitised and cheapened by the Future Publishing corporate bland-o-thiser. At least it would have cashed its chips whilst on a relative high, instead of rolling on with none of its talent left, fleecing its three readers month after month until it inevitably slips into the not so great shithouse in the sky.
We wish our best to the dearly departed, and salute them for fucking off away from Future's dick of doom before it rogers them into obscurity.
Dennis Publishing’s legacy is well and truly dead. Does that make you sad?
(Big thanks to our Anonymous Knights)
We wish our best to the dearly departed, and salute them for fucking off away from Future's dick of doom before it rogers them into obscurity.
Dennis Publishing’s legacy is well and truly dead. Does that make you sad?
(Big thanks to our Anonymous Knights)
EDIT: Update posted
Print is dead.
ReplyDeleteGood luck to everyone in finding new employment.
PCZ has been bleeding profusely for ages now, saddled with tumbling page counts and "free" Warcraft cards.
ReplyDeleteIt's also a shame that Imagine have given up with Total PC Gaming's disc-less format and essentially joined Future's ranks.
I can see why you got into doing words Rammy, because your mathematical skills are fucking atrocious.
ReplyDeleteThe last time I checked, four people can't ever be five people, yet you've somehow managed it.
You stupid cunt.
Oh, and Sefton walked ages ago, while Zitron left because he had a job offer in New York. The only story here is the coincidental departure of two other members of the team at the same time.
Talk about trying to make a drama out of nothing.
Official 360 had three people leave over the course of a few months (the editor, Cutlack and Dan Griliopolous), was that some sort of crisis too? Was it tits.
Get a fucking life, eh?
"Official 360 had three people leave over the course of a few months (the editor, Cutlack and Dan Griliopolous), was that some sort of crisis too? Was it tits."
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, they replaced Steve sharpish with Jonty and had enough other staff (Ben, Ryan, Gil) to cover Grill and Gary leaving. PC Zone has Steve. Steve's brilliant, that's true, but it's still just Steve. No-one else.
Oh dear.
PC Zone needs to be put out of its misery. It's a waste of space nowadays so it would be doing everyone a favour if Future pulled the plug on it.
ReplyDeleteCancel your subs and hasten its demise. Future are only trying to screw you with lower page counts, a pointless cover disc, and no content worth reading anyway.
"The last time I checked, four people can't ever be five people, yet you've somehow managed it."
ReplyDeleteZitron, Porter, Blyth, Sefton, and art guy make five? Rammy's maths aren't suspect, you silly twat.
Didn't art guy leave a long time ago? Why not rope Dave Woods' departure in too and make it six?
ReplyDeleteIs Wandy still around?
ReplyDelete"Future are only trying to screw you with lower page counts, a pointless cover disc, and no content worth reading anyway."
ReplyDeleteStop mixing fact with your own spastic opinion of a cunt. The writing's still great.
Nice labels, RR. ;)
ReplyDeleteI agree with the whole 'print is dead' sentiment, though. I run a viral entertainment network and I'm earning bigger bucks from ads than I ever did from print; despite the latter being traditionally favorable.
On topic: PCZ hasn't been getting the respect it deserves for a long time now. Anyone who knows anything about Future will have noticed the cutbacks. PCZ used to be more than 2cms thick and include more than a single review. I guess its failure just highlights how the publisher let its side down.
It's just like what happened with OPS2 and CVG ... Christ ... poor fucking CVG ...
ReplyDeleteI liked the magazine funny entertaining and good. No you got to get some other project for your readers.
ReplyDeletePC Zone was my favourite of the three. This is a real shame.
ReplyDeletePC Zone started fading when Suzy Wallace left.....bring back Suz I say! :)
Its been going since 1993 I loved that magazine, but the what made it great has long since gone. Time to let it go I reckon.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest there is nothing wrong with PCZ today. Been a subscriber for years and years and don't plan on changing. Also a long time subscriber to Gamer, both mags are great and Gamer seems to be doing better reviews as of late but they just don't have the humor that PCZ has.
ReplyDeleteWill Porter was (and probably still is), a know-it-all gob-shite...
ReplyDeleteNo loss there then.