1UP Bought Out by UGO and Gutted Like Trout
January 6th, 2009 | Written by Andrew Giese | Topic: Media WatchQuickly propagating through the web is news that fellow gaming site 1UP has been recently acquired by UGO Entertainment and its parent Hearst Corporation.
1UP is more gutted than the trout you ate for dinner last week.
Obviously for the press release Editorial Director Sam Kennedy had to stay upbeat, saying
“We are extremely excited to join the UGO team. ” Relying on UGO’s publishing platform will allow us to focus on what we do best; creating great content and ‘owning the conversation’ among gamers through our unique, authentic and definitive voice and community.”
The real story, however, is not so upbeat. Rumors circulating the presses say that some 30 employees immediately laid off at 1UP, its associated sites, and EGM Magazine. On top of that, EGM, the Ziff Davis-published periodical that would be celebrating its 20th birthday this year has been discontinued permanently.
Gamasutra managed to obtain a copy of the company-wide internal e-mail regarding the issue in which CEO Jason Young reportedly states:
“Over the course of the last 4 years we have built the 1UP sites into a top tier gaming digital destination. While our growth has been sharp, it has become apparent that more scale is necessary to effectively compete in this market segment.
… With this transaction happening, we have also made the decision to discontinue publication of EGM. The January 2009 issue will be the final issue of the publication. With demand for print continuing to decline amongst both advertisers and readers and the content being produced by 1UP no longer available for use in the publication, it simply did not make sense for us to move forward with this business any longer.”
A complete list of laid-off employees is being compiled by members at 1UP’s official forums. Our sincerest grievances go out to those employees out of a job especially during such a poor economic time. With the fall of another big magazine, one more nail has been hammered into the coffin of print media.
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Comment by Danreb on the January 7th, 2009 at 9:41 am
Lame.
Comment by taquito on the January 8th, 2009 at 2:01 am
Meh, I can't remember the last time I picked up a game magazine (or any magazine for that matter). It was only a matter of time. Condolences to the former employees though, losing a job is never a fun time.
Comment by JacobS on the January 9th, 2009 at 10:41 am
1Up was perhaps the best of the major videogame sites. I hope that the quality doesn't get eviscerated as they restructure.