Ziff Davis Up for Sale?

[fitbabits]

According to Next Generation (http://www.next-gen.biz), Ziff Davis (publishers of Official PlayStation Magazine, Electronic Gaming Monthly and Computer Gaming World) could be up for sale.

You can read the full story here (http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3551&Itemid=2).

The company says it's "exploring strategic alternatives," and has hired Evercore Partners and Lehman Brothers to help in a potential sale.

Reports in the financial press say the company's main owner, equity firm Willis Stein & Partners, will likely take a loss on the sale. It paid $780 million for the firm in 1999.

The company as a whole has announced profits for Q2 of $5.7 million, up from $3.1 million last year. Online revenue was up 50% while print revenue was down 15%

The games group has reported a four-fold increase in online revenues for Q2. Revenue for the group was $8.7 million, down 3% on last year.
Future? Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.?

[Serapth]

Of those magazines, CGW is about the only one with any worth. Even then, its getting worse and worse. I think print magazines are basically a dying breed thanks to the internet.

[SexualChoc]

I thought Future had the monopoly on all gaming magazines? Or is this the US version? I'm pretty sure they have every single one in the UK.

[Reanimated]

I thought Ziff was owned by sony.

[Serapth]

I thought Ziff was owned by sony.

Nope...

Ziff Davis Media was founded in 1927 by William B. Ziff, Sr., and Bernard G. Davis. In 2000, Willis Stein & Partners acquired the company from Soft Bank.

[fitbabits]

I thought Ziff was owned by sony.
Har-de-har! Next.

[fitbabits]

Nope...

Ziff Davis Media was founded in 1927 by William B. Ziff, Sr., and Bernard G. Davis. In 2000, Willis Stein & Partners acquired the company from Soft Bank.
I believe Reanimated's post was a blatant attack on ZD for perceived Sony favoritism. Nice info, though.

[Serapth]

I believe Reanimated's post was a blatant attack on ZD for perceived Sony favoritism. Nice info, though.

Yes, I know... but a fairly lame attack, given the Murdocks empire seems to have a much bigger Sony bias.

Oh, except Play magazine. Whoever is behind that magazine are a bunch of North American wanna be Otaku. Its by far the lamest magazine I have ever read... and that includes bloody EGM.

Shit, now im curious who publishes play...

Ah... trusty google.
Fusion Publishing, Inc. is the publisher of PLAY Magazine, PLAY Magazine Presents: Girls of Gaming and Playmagazine.com.

[Reanimated]

No, seriously, I thought sony owned them, or at least owned a partial stake. I mean OPM is in there.

[fitbabits]

Yes, I know... but a fairly lame attack, given the Murdocks empire seems to have a much bigger Sony bias.

Oh, except Play magazine. Whoever is behind that magazine are a bunch of North American wanna be Otaku. Its by far the lamest magazine I have ever read... and that includes bloody EGM.

Shit, now im curious who publishes play...

Ah... trusty google.
Fusion Publishing, Inc. is the publisher of PLAY Magazine, PLAY Magazine Presents: Girls of Gaming and Playmagazine.com.
Do not, I repeat, DO NOT get me started on PLAY magazine! :mad:

[fitbabits]

No, seriously, I thought sony owned them, or at least owned a partial stake. I mean OPM is in there.
Using your logic, Microsoft would part-own Future Publishing as it is they who publish the Official Xbox Magazine.

[Serapth]

Do not, I repeat, DO NOT get me started on PLAY magazine! :mad:


So you agree that it is perhaps the worst print magazine ever?

[falcon]

After seeing EGM this month I thought they were owned by EA.... (lame I know)

[TrackZero]

Isn't this who 1up is ultimately owned by?

[jacktion]

The magazines are already dead. They just don't know it yet.



...like a blacksmith in the 20s.

[Doctor Setebos]

Isn't this who 1up is ultimately owned by?Correct. ZD owns 1up, Filefront, and GameTab, amongst other online properties.

[KNOTE]

No Che means half price! Hopefully all the good folks that work there end up with a good ownership group. 1up is leading the industry lately (podcasts, blogs, broken pixels, 1up show, Milky's travels) and I'd hate to see any disruption of their business. Actually, if it meant Shane would go away, I'm all for it.

[thecrazyd]

No Che means half price! Hopefully all the good folks that work there end up with a good ownership group. 1up is leading the industry lately (podcasts, blogs, broken pixels, 1up show, Milky's travels) and I'd hate to see any disruption of their business. Actually, if it meant Shane would go away, I'm all for it.
Yeah, 1up is the worldwide leader in crap.

[KNOTE]

Yeah, 1up is the worldwide leader in crap.

Have you checked out their stuff lately? Or are you just blindly hating, as per usual? I can't tell from your reply. They're doing good stuff and kicking the crap out of what the other game sites.

[thecrazyd]

Well, I heard a podcast, and saw the show once, both crap. And the site itself is a sack of poorly implemented, flash infused crap.

[KNOTE]

Well, I heard a podcast, and saw the show once, both crap. And the site itself is a sack of poorly implemented, flash infused crap.

I concur on the website, I'd take faster loading over flashy crap anyday. Hence, my love for EvilAvatar. :D

I respectfully disagree on the content though. Is there anything you do like? I don't hear you saying you enjoyed a game or much of anything very often. (sorry to derail and make this about you, but I'm seriously wondering what is good if they suck so much).

[EvilBob46]

No, seriously, I thought sony owned them, or at least owned a partial stake. I mean OPM is in there.

I know. EGM is so Sony-biased. They just gave Halo 1 and 2 a full 10/10/10 because...uh...nevermind. Plus the super-favorable reviews of Oblivion and Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter in the latest few issues. They just don't associate everything Microsoft with Awesome like you do.

After seeing EGM this month I thought they were owned by EA.... (lame I know)

They just reviewed the latest NCAA football game and rated it rather poorly, to go along with a rant from the editor about how EA keeps making new games every year with few improvements.

[thecrazyd]

I concur on the website, I'd take faster loading over flashy crap anyday. Hence, my love for EvilAvatar. :D

I respectfully disagree on the content though. Is there anything you do like? I don't hear you saying you enjoyed a game or much of anything very often. (sorry to derail and make this about you, but I'm seriously wondering what is good if they suck so much).
I love everything that is not 1up and condiments! I don't know how I got the reputation as a hater. Most of the time I am just picking on this site's trolls.

[Doctor Setebos]

Well, I heard a podcast, and saw the show once, both crap. And the site itself is a sack of poorly implemented, flash infused crap.The 1up website is trash. It loads slower on a regular weekday than EvAv did last week during it's availability hiccup. :rolleyes:

And I concur that it's podcasts and shows are utter crap. Its content is a rehash of everything that happened during the past week with absolutely no useful commentary added and a painful sense of wandering around, waiting for something interesting to occur. It's nothing more than a bunch of self-absorbed people wanting to talk into the microphone and hear their own voices on the internets.

The only gaming podcasts I listen to anymore are 2old2type (http://2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Radio) and alt.NPR's Press Start (http://pressstartpodcast.com): two podcasts with great discussion on relevant topics.

[oldjadedgamer]

No, seriously, I thought sony owned them, or at least owned a partial stake.

Sony owned partial stake = Shane Bettenhausen

[Animated X]

Do not, I repeat, DO NOT get me started on PLAY magazine! :mad:

So you agree that it is perhaps the worst print magazine ever?

What is so bad about Play Magazine? (other than the fact that it rings up as Play Girl Magazine at my local 7-11?)

It is the only gaming magazine I get every month. To be honest, they are quite biased sometimes, with their opinions and scores, but at least they show a strong passion for what they are writing about. Most, if not all of the other major mags just rehash the same corporate bullshit, and fanboy crap.

Questionable editorial content aside, you have to admit the art design for the mag is top notch. Play almost always sports a well designed interesing hand drawn cover (reminds me of old school PSM when they used to have real comic artists do covers, Joe Madd doing Resident Evil and FF8? Fuck Yeah). The layout and art inside the magazine is great too, as they always take the time to posts concept art, instead of the standard screenshots seen in most major mags.

Even if you don't dig the opinion in play, you have to give some credit for promoting the artistry of games and game design.

As to the Girls of gaming...that is a bit of a blatant cash in for the lowest common denominator, but this is how I see it: I scour the Internet for game concept art, and buy Game Art books when I can (I am a game art/design student). The girls of gaming books are basically concept art (exclusively female, albeit) for a multitude of games, all in one book. What other major publication collects and puts out a book of Concept art every year?

/Rant

[KNOTE]

The only gaming podcasts I listen to anymore are 2old2type (http://2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Radio) and alt.NPR's Press Start (http://pressstartpodcast.com): two podcasts with great discussion on relevant topics.

I stand alone! Thanks for the new Podcast links. I'll check them out.

[Animated X]

The only gaming podcasts I listen to anymore are 2old2type (http://2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Radio) and alt.NPR's Press Start (http://pressstartpodcast.com): two podcasts with great discussion on relevant topics.

Thanks for the links, I have never listened to these, I will give them a try.

[pseudopseudo]

The only gaming podcasts I listen to anymore are 2old2type (http://2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Radio) and alt.NPR's Press Start (http://pressstartpodcast.com): two podcasts with great discussion on relevant topics.
alt.NPR's Press Start is amazing.

But no love for the Evil Avatar Radio Podcast? None at all? This saddens me.

[KNOTE]

alt.NPR's Press Start is amazing.

But no love for the Evil Avatar Radio Podcast? None at all? This saddens me.

EA's is great! The guys do a really good job. Angrygamer.net has a good one too. I want more developer guest stars on podcasts though.

[t3g]

I haven't had a video game magazine subscription in YEARS. Why should I buy a print magazine if I can get the information quicker, more up to date, and free? Its been at least 5-7 years since I had a subscription to a gaming magainze. Even if they give them away for free, I still wouldn't want them.

P.S. EB/GameStop needs to stop hassling their customers about getting a Game Informer subscription every time they come in. When I go into a store like that, I know what game ahead of time I want to purchase and have no interest in a video game magazine. If I did, I would have found a good price for one somewhere else and not because some depressing game store clerk wanted me to. Quota or no quota, learn to get off our backs.

[Doctor Setebos]

But no love for the Evil Avatar Radio Podcast? None at all? This saddens me.I don't consider it a podcast since I always listen to it live. Of course, since it IS available on iTunes, I suppose it should count. :D

[pseudopseudo]

I don't consider it a podcast since I always listen to it live. Of course, since it IS available on iTunes, I suppose it should count. :D
Ahh... you listen live. Therefore, you kick ass. And I'd say it counts. ;)

[jadkins555]

I have a subscription to CGW. I don't remember what promotion gave it to me, as I receive it for free. But whenever I get an issue in the mail, it goes straight into the recycling bin. I don't even open it.

Print magazines are dead. Long live sites like GameSpot (which despite some people labeling as a pay site, offers 99.9% of their content for free... hell, they were the only ones streaming the E3 conferences for free last year).

[Reanimated]

Sony owned partial stake = Shane Bettenhausen



Sadly, that isn't even a joke.

[Magnanimous Gnome]

I subscribe to EGM just because it simplifies things. I get reviews for all the major games right there along with new game announcements, etc. I find that I see a lot of stuff there that I missed online. It's all collected into one static place each month....I dunno, it's just convenient. I keep thinking about getting rid of it though - my subscription is up again and I might not be renewing.

[bone_matrix]

I subscribe to EGM just because it simplifies things. I get reviews for all the major games right there along with new game announcements, etc. I find that I see a lot of stuff there that I missed online. It's all collected into one static place each month....I dunno, it's just convenient. I keep thinking about getting rid of it though - my subscription is up again and I might not be renewing.

Watch online, there are many free years of EGM (and other mags).

I like EGM. As someone said, the editor just ranted off about EA not actually improving anything. And they got me hooked on Drill Dozer for the GBA (check it out, it was ten bucks at Best Buy not that long ago). Sure, I feel they don't give enough space for some games to explain why they gave it the score they did, but I feel overall, their reviews are welldone. Its a persons opinion. Their opinion won't always agree with yours, and I'm sure there is bias here or there. But they aren't paid off. Get over it.