Ziff Davis Media to Launch GMR Magazine

Posted on November 22, 2002

Ziff Davis Media Game Group has announced a new magazine, GMR, a monthly video and PC game publication. The magazine will be a combined effort between Ziff Davis Media, a publisher of video and computer game magazines and Electronics Boutique, a specialty retailer of electronic games. GMR (an abbreviation for "Gamer") will cover games on the PS2, Xbox, GameCube, PC and Game Boy Advance.

GMR will be monthly and ABC audited with an average rate base of 225,000 for 2003. The cover price will be $4.95 per issue. The first issue of GMR will close on December 6, 2002 and be on sale by January 7th, 2003.

Simon Cox, currently the Creative Director for the Ziff Davis Media Game Group, will serve as the editor-in-chief of GMR. Cox said, "We plan to create a new type of magazine that will appeal to a large portion of those 20 million core video and computer gamers who aren't regularly reading magazines right now. Unlike other magazines, GMR will be in readers' hands faster than most monthlies. This enables our editors to write about the best games just as they are hitting shelves. Our news and previews will cover a shorter time frame as well, creating buzz about games shipping over the next few months, not years. We think this concrete product focus will appeal to a broad spectrum of core gamers who want more solid information now and less hype."

PC and video gamers will be able to pick up a single copy of GMR or buy a subscription at more than 1,000 EB Games, Electronics Boutique or EBX stores. GMR will also be available through select retailers outside of Electronics Boutique and subscriptions will be offered through direct mail, advertising campaigns and on the web. Subscribers who order GMR directly from Electronics Boutique will be eligible for special promotions and discounts at their retail outlets.

"Ziff Davis Media is great at creating magazines that attract and bond with core video gamers," said Dale Strang, Senior Vice President of the Ziff Davis Media Game Group. "Electronics Boutique is a distribution powerhouse. We believe this partnership will create a magazine that will stimulate demand among core video and computer gamers like never before. We are confident that GMR will immediately sell-out in the stores and will be the kind of high circulation magazine the game industry is looking for."