John Bohrer
United States
Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania
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Some game industry news I should pass along to all you boardgamers:
Games Quarterly Magazine's publication has ceased.
New Owners for Games Quarterly Catalog.
Games Quarterly Catalog (GQC), the 16 year old standard reference for the games industry, is now under new ownership. The acquisition was completed today. The previous owner Matthews Simmons Martketing (MSM) sold the catalog to Richard Hartnett and Richard Martin Leep.
Mr. Simmons further announced that MSM is closing after 16 years of service to the games industry. He noted the closure was forced by mounting bad accounts receivable through the past eighteen months and recent losses due to the launch of Games Expo 2007. Games Quarterly Magazine's publication has ceased.
FOR MORE INFORMATION Regarding Games Quarterly Catalog Contact:
Games Quarterly Catalog Company
12568 Tammywood Street
Broomfield CO 80020
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Edward
United States
Costa Mesa
California
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Argh, terrible news. And I just paid for a two-year subscription.
Is there an official press release somewhere?
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John Bohrer
United States
Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania
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Spire wrote: Is there an official press release somewhere?
I don't know if there is. I received an industry insider email about it from MSM.
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Rob Silmser
United States
Valrico
Florida
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Their website has no mention of this.
Any announcement made about refunding subscription fees?
....and now I'll NEVER get those damn game expansions!!!!!
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Brad Oliver
United States
Glendale
Arizona
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ejamer wrote: Hmmm... this is extremely unfortunate. I also subscribed to the magazine when it was plugged here at BGG, and greatly enjoyed the mini-expansions. Frankly, if my money is now wasted I'll be rather pissed off.
Yeah, same story for me too. I only subscribed to get the "free" expansions. So that's 2 expansion for $25 bucks - not a great ROI. I guess the reported flop of that recent Games Expo must've sunk the whole thing.
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John Bohrer
United States
Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania
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Brad Oliver wrote: Yeah, same story for me too. I only subscribed to get the "free" expansions. So that's 2 expansion for $25 bucks - not a great ROI. I guess the reported flop of that recent Games Expo must've sunk the whole thing.
I also think the Games Expo killed off MSM. As for expansions, Spielbox magazine is healthy, but in German.
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Rob Silmser
United States
Valrico
Florida
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John Bohrer wrote: Brad Oliver wrote: Yeah, same story for me too. I only subscribed to get the "free" expansions. So that's 2 expansion for $25 bucks - not a great ROI. I guess the reported flop of that recent Games Expo must've sunk the whole thing. I also think the Games Expo killed off MSM. As for expansions, Spielbox magazine is healthy, but in German.
But how easy/expensive to get here in the US?
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John Bohrer
United States
Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania
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Hisst Ka wrote: John Bohrer wrote: I also think the Games Expo killed off MSM. As for expansions, Spielbox magazine is healthy, but in German. But how easy/expensive to get here in the US?
You can subscribe to Spielbox for one issue, 3 issues or for a year, 6 issues. The English language order page is:
http://www.spielbox-magazin.de/sbbest072e.php
The current issue has an Age of Steam expansion.
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Edward
United States
Costa Mesa
California
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John Bohrer wrote:
Thanks for the link.
Unfortunately, it's expensive: $69.59 a year for US subscribers ($11.60 per issue). A single issue is $7.36 plus shipping, and the three-issue "test subscription" is not available outside of Europe.
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John Bohrer
United States
Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania
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ejamer wrote: By the way, thanks very much for sharing the news - while it's not good news, it is good to know. Hopefully this debacle will end up with a happy resolution.
I am certainly glad that you don't kill the messenger bearing bad news! I just wanted to get the news out to all you folks before more people sent their subscription money to Games Quarterly Magazine.
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Diane Close
United States
St. Paul
Minnesota
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John Bohrer wrote: ...I just wanted to get the news out to all you folks before more people sent their subscription money to Games Quarterly Magazine.
Yes, thanks for the heads-up. Makes me very happy I got my Die Katharer from Spielbox afterall! FYI, Gaming Report has a few more details:
http://www.gamingreport.com/article.php?sid=23413&mode=threa...
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John Bohrer
United States
Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania
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ejamer wrote: Would there be compatability issues with using Spielbox expansions in English versions of the game? Obviously, and text would have to be translated, but don't some games also have different graphic styles (ie: Settlers of Catan)?
There usually no difference in artwork between the original German game and the US reprint. The english language reprints are usually just ganged onto the original german run, it saves a lot of money for guys like Jay at Rio Grande.
The language obstacle is the big problem for US gamers.
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Christopher DeFrisco
United States
Ashland
Oregon
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I too have lost some $$. I feel though, that I have just dodged a bullet as I was seriously considering taking my boys to the Games Expo. I decided, instead, to take them to Gamestorm 9 in Portland. Had I gone to the Expo I don't think I would have ever gone to another con. As it happens, it will take a stampede of camels to keep me from Gamestorm 10 (and whatever other con I can get me greedy little free weekends in).
So there are silver linings after all.
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Robert M
United States
Greenville
South Carolina
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Hopefully they will contact subscribers about this. I got the 2 year one as well.
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Accipe gaudium ex vestri victorias. Accipe lectiones ex vestri damnis.
United States
38.978164N 76.486881W
Maryland
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Wow. Although I'm sure BGG wasn't aware of the insolvency issues, it looks a bit suspect that the mag owners put a big push on for subscriptions just before going belly up. Has the new owner indicated they would try to find a substitute product to the new subscriber base? Presumably if they bought full interest in the company's assets (such as they are) they also purchased the company's obligations.
Will "Richard Hartnett and Richard Martin Leep" also be making a formal statement here on BGG? I would very much like to see if they will be trying to find a way to establish a positive relationship with those who just lost out on their investment.
Sag.
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David Reed
United States
College Station
Texas
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I had the subscription on my Christmas list - I now feel fortunate that no one actually bought it for me (and I didn't get around to ordering it for myself). I think the source of the delay (for my ordering) was the fact that I had already picked up the expansions that were already announced via Spielbox and the magazine itself wasn't terribly compelling. Now I am starting to think that I need to serious consider just biting the bullet and subscribing to Spielbox. Hopefully, there won't be a BGG tie-in for Spielbox, as it seems to be the kiss of death for publications...
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John Bohrer
United States
Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania
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Sagrilarus wrote: Will "Richard Hartnett and Richard Martin Leep" also be making a formal statement here on BGG?
Richard Hartnett and Richard Martin Leep bought Games Quarterly Catalog, not Games Quarterly Magazine. GQC is a US trade journal, GQM a consumer mag, not at all the same thing.
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Daniel Cain
United States
Olympia
Washington
Board Game Villian
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Knucklebones Magazine is pretty good and they just had a brand new issue come out. You can check them out at www.kbones.com. One year subscription is $24.95.
This is bad news for the industry though as I know Games Quarterly was thought of pretty highly.
LA
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David Reed
United States
College Station
Texas
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lastalchemist wrote: Knucklebones Magazine is pretty good and they just had a brand new issue come out. You can check them out at www.kbones.com. One year subscription is $24.95.
I think that the major thing that people were interested in with Games Quarterly were the mini expansions that they had started including (The Great River of Catan, The Mini-Carcassonne expansion). Having read a couple of issues of Knucklebones, I can safely say that it is a much better magazine.
Quote: This is bad news for the industry though as I know Games Quarterly was thought of pretty highly.
Actually, most people have not been terribly impressed with the magazine - it was mostly a set of press releases, not really good objective writing. Again, if Knucklebones were to pick up the expansions that were planned to run with Games Quarterly, I suspect that they would add a good number of subscribers.
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John Bohrer
United States
Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania
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deacondavid wrote: Actually, most people have not been terribly impressed with the magazine - it was mostly a set of press releases, not really good objective writing.
If one is mostly interested in objective english language writing about boardgames, Counter magazine is the established benchmark. Sorry, no color pictures or expansions, just plenty of solid objective commentary.
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Rob Silmser
United States
Valrico
Florida
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I honestly got my sub only for the game expansions. The "magazine" was mainly just adds.
I'd skim through it and toss it out. It wasn't anything I got much enjoyment out of.
I did enjoy the expansions though!!
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Robert M
United States
Greenville
South Carolina
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I wonder if BGG ever got their cut (just wondering if GQM fulfilled their obligation, I wouldn't expect anything from BGG if they did)
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Eddie the Cranky Monkey
Canada
Edmonton
Alberta
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ejamer wrote: lastalchemist wrote: Knucklebones Magazine is pretty good and they just had a brand new issue come out. You can check them out at www.kbones.com. One year subscription is $24.95. Note that the price for Knucklebones would be CAD $46 for a one year (six issue) subscription in Canada. This still seems like a fair price if the magazine is decent... but not quite the deal that US residents get.
Hah. You think you Americans got burnt on Games Quarterly? Try having paid the International rate.
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Bill H
United States
Absecon
New Jersey
You can't take the sky from me!
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I had initially subscribed for the little games expansions they had announced, but I found that I enjoyed the articles. I took the obvious marketing with a grain of salt, but I enjoyed the content on education and James Earnest's stuff.
This is disappointing.
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