List out the publications that closed down this year

General
1

No big essay today, I just couldn’t keep up with the closures. Usually when a tech/gaming publication shuts down I see 5 tweets about it in a row and that’s the last of it, no more ways of “discovering” it. If I wasn’t on twitter that day, tough luck. So please just mention them here; archives and retrospectives are nice, but just mentioning them so I know what to even look for is still something, thanks.

2

Regarding your last bullet point, you’re thinking of GameInformer. I’m not particularly informed on this myself, but a quick search shows they weren’t doing well anyway, after staff being laid off in 2019 and 2022. Their last issue (#367, according to Retromags) at the time of closure ostensibly featured exclusive “Dragon Age: The Veilguard” screenshots and gameplay details. Another issue was released afterwards, featuring “The Casting of Frank Stone” on the cover.

Anyway, to keep it short, on Friday, August 2nd, the staff were all gathered in a room by GameStop (their parent company) management and promptly fired. More details here.
Do note that GameInformer’s Twitter/X account, where the closure was first publicly announced, has since been deleted.

I would like to close this post with a very neat thing the GameStop CEO said, per this article by The Verge:

every expense at the company must be scrutinized under a microscope and all waste eliminated

3

MinnMaxx had a great set of videos talking with the staff of GameInformer after the closure. I recommend the “Game Informer Gets To Say Goodbye” video from the playlist below

4

There’s been a few others, I’ll try to grab.
ROMHacking also shut down: RIP: ROMHacking.net To Go Read Only | RetroRGB

5

WASD began life in 2022 as the spiritual successor to EGX Rezzed.

Never heard of them. :man_shrugging: