Games magazines suffer at Future

Future Publishing has blamed a decline in the PC gaming market and tough advertising competition in the US for a difficult three months for its portfolio of games magazines.

Revenue for the three months ended December 31 were GBP 41 million. Online advertising was up 25 per cent, while print advertising dropped 4 per cent. Revenues from circulation were also down 2 per cent.

"In Games, our single biggest portfolio (comprising 32 per cent of our business in FY08), we had a challenging quarter, driven by an accelerated decline in PC gaming and the very tough US advertising environment," said the company.

The publisher is experiencing "very tough conditions" at news stands, while UK and US advertising budgets are softening.

"Our focus this year is on guiding our business effectively through the uncharted waters of the current macroeconomic environment and ensuring we remain on course to deliver sustainable growth in the mid-term," commented Stevie Spring, chief executive of Future.

"While of course we're not immune to current challenges, we're mitigating these through the active management of our portfolio and through building in greater cost flexibility. We remain confident that we're in the best shape we can be to deal with whatever challenges lie ahead and are on track to deliver against expectations for the full year."

As well as official PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo magazines, Future also publishes PC Gamer, PC Zone and Edge. The company's share price at the time of writing was 18 pence, up from an all-time low of 9.5 pence last November.