Nordic Game: Web has taken over from print, says journalists' panel

It was the turn of journalists to take the stage at the Nordic Game conference yesterday for a panel session which included a discussion on the growth of Internet reporting and the decline of magazines.

"In Norway, we have no games magazines - just the Scandinavian magazine, Game Reactor. We have some websites, some trade magazines; the websites and the newspapers are the driving force," said tabloid journalist Bryne Snorre.

His comments were echoed by panel moderator Thomas Vigild, who told the audience, "In Denmark, we don't have many magazines - and the magazines that we do have are pretty small.

"They're really driven by advertisements, so it seems to me there's a really unhealthy relationship between the PRs and the people who write the magazines... We don't have magazines like in the UK where you can say, 'No way, I won't print your PR bullshit.' That's much harder to do in Denmark because they still need the income from the advertisers."

"I think that's very hard to do for print publishers in the UK as well," said Patrick Garratt of Eurogamer Network, which publishes consumer site Eurogamer.net along with GamesIndustry.biz.

"Print publishers are finding it incredibly difficult to survive, because everyone is getting their information from the Internet. Game magazines in the UK are dying, there's no doubt about that.

"I'm sure there are people in the British print press industry that would strongly disagree with me, but our readership is going up very quickly and a lot of magazines are going down very quickly. They can't hide it - the ABC figures show very clearly what's happening."

According to Garratt the UK is seeing a repeat of the situation which occurred in the US, "Where you're left with retail magazines made by contract publishing, official magazines that turn into pamphlets because everything's been on the Internet for weeks, and that's pretty much it.

"I think in the UK it will be those styles of magazine and basically Edge that survives, because they're committed to doing what magazines do very well - which is something that you really want to buy and own, something that's printed on incredibly good paper with brilliant design, that you're not embarassed as an adult to read."

However, Garratt continued, "For the unofficial magazine arms race in the UK, where we had 20 - 30 magazines in massive bags with two discs on the cover and stuff like that - no one cares any more. It's over."

So, Vigild concluded, "We have to move games journalism to the Internet - it seems like we're pretty much agreed on that."

But Finnish journalist Thomas Puha offered a different take: "I disagree, since I'm in the magazine business, but I don't think it's as bad as Patrick says - at least not in our market.

"I do agree that print magazines are going down, but I look at it as a challenge. We just have to print better content. I'm not talking about Eurogamer but IGN and places like that, it's not that difficult to provide great content."

Susanne Möller, who writes for one of Sweden's national newspapers, suggested that there is a future for magazines as long as they're willing to evolve. "I think the print magazines that survive will be those who can adapt - maybe they have a forum or a community on the web and news there, but also have a strong print magazine each month. I think that's the way they have to adapt to it."