Future eyes games magazine dominance with Highbury bid

Sources at print publishing firm Future have indicated that it has tendered a bid for rival publisher Highbury House, the parent company of its last major rival in the UK games magazine market, Paragon.

Highbury House has confirmed to the City that it has received an approach from an unnamed suitor which "may or may not lead to an offer for the company", in a statement made after the firm's share price leaped 25 per cent.

Speculation within the industry has pointed to three possible bidders - namely Future, Wilmington and Centaur - but a source at the Bath-based Future today indicated that they are the suitor responsible for the current bid.

Aside from being a huge acquisition for the magazine group, the deal would see Future taking over its last major rival in the UK games magazine market - namely Paragon, publishers of magazines including Play, XBM, P2, gamesTM and Cube.

The deal would complete Future's dominance of the market, leaving only a few small independent publishers still operating in the sector, with Emap's Official Nintendo Magazine being the only title from a large competitor remaining.

Such a move would not come as a surprise to many in the industry, as Future has already demonstrated an aggressive stance towards acquiring rivals in the games sector - picking up PC Zone and ComputerAndVideoGames.com from Dennis Publishing for a reported UKP 1.5 million last year, and the entirety of Computec Media's games portfolio for around UKP 5 million in late 2003.

As well as its games publications, Highbury House is also responsible for a variety of other publications including popular lifestyle magazine Front, film publications such as HotDog and DVD Review, and automobile magazine Fast Car.

Future could not be contacted for comment at the time of publication.