Ziff Davis Sells 1UP To UGO/Hearst, Closes EGM

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Following repeated rumors to the effect, Gamasutra has learned that Ziff Davis has sold its 1UP division to Hearst's UGO Entertainment, and is shutting long-running print magazine EGM in the process.

According to a statement received by Gamasutra, Ziff Davis Media has now officially announced the sale of the 1UP Digital Network to Hearst's UGO Entertainment division.

The sale includes 1UP.com, Mycheats.com, Gametab.com, and GameVideos.com, and specific financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

In association with this, Ziff Davis Media's EGM Magazine, a consumer game print mainstay since 1989, will be discontinued. The January 2009 issue will be the final printed issue.

"We believe this is a smart transaction for Ziff Davis Media that places these market leading assets and teams in a great environment poised for further success. The transaction allows us to pay down debt and shift our full focus to our core PCMag Digital Network business. We thank our 1UP team members for their contributions and wish them the best of success into the future", said Ziff Davis Media CEO Jason Young.

"Since we started UGO 11 years ago, we have served the gamer community and built a world-class online publishing platform," said J Moses, CEO of UGO Entertainment. "The acquisition of 1UP, with its authentic voice, tenured editorial personalities and bustling user community, allows us to expand our base of quality content and represents a major step forward in UGO's mission to become the leader in the games space."

[UPDATE: Gamasutra has obtained a copy of the internal email sent to Ziff Davis employees by CEO Jason Young following the announcement, as follows:

"Team:

We are announcing today the sale of our 1UP digital business to UGO Entertainment, a dvision of Hearst Corporation.

Over the course of the last 4 years we have built the 1UP sites into a top tier gaming digital destination. While our growth has been sharp, it has become apparent that more scale is necessary to effectively compete in this market segment.

We made the decision that the best path to putting our award winning 1UP brand and content in a more competitive position was to combine it with the operations of another publisher. We received much interest from other parties.

After a comprehensive process, this morning we completed a deal with Hearst Interactive, the owner and operator of UGO Entertainment. 1UP.com, MyCheats.com, Gamevideos.com, and Gametab.com will now all be part of the UGO Entertainment business. Many of our employees will travel with this business and become part of the UGO team.

With this transaction happening, we have also made the decision to discontinue publication of EGM. The January 2009 issue will be the final issue of the publication. With demand for print continuing to decline amongst both advertisers and readers and the content being produced by 1UP no longer available for use in the publication, it simply did not make sense for us to move forward with this business any longer.

We will continue to operate the Filefront business as a part of the PCMag Digital Network. In the coming months we will determine the best ways to leverage the scale and functionality of this digital property to expand our business position.

The Ziff Davis position in the gaming market has been significant and important to our company and the market itself. While many of our assets in the PCMag Digital Network (including Filefront now) will continue to cover this market, it's important that we celebrate all that we have achieved over the last 25 years.

Our leadership in print for decades with titles like Computer Gaming World and EGM which in turn translated into the build out of one of the leading digital gaming media assets in 1UP are prime examples of the skill, passion, and expertise of our teams.and what they achieved.

It's incredible to compare the 1UP.com of today versus that of 12 months ago. I want to thank everybody in our Game Group for their important contributions over the years.

For Ziff Davis Media, our attention and focus now shifts squarely to the PC Mag Digital Network. The proceeds from this transaction will be used to pay down debt. One of the primary objectives of our business plan is ensuring that we have plenty of room to service our debt obligations into the future, and manage for growth in what will be a challenging year in the advertising market.

While the market will be tough, we are confident our position is well aligned to where the demand is most active. We move forward as a 100% digital business with tenured brand position, and powerful capabilities to drive results for our customers. I look forward to sharing more updates in the coming weeks.

Source: http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=21759

Massive epic megaton failure :(

1UP :cry:

Apparently rumour on the GAF is the staff hadn't been told, and the leaking memo was the first they've heard. Now that is BS. More people losing jobs :(

Unsurprising, but super unfortunate that the staffers heard about this via leak rather than being told.

Paidcontent.org: "Oops, our bad!"

May you all land on your feet, my friends.

And we've lost our 1UP Yours/Show!

Ryan O'Donnell has no job any more...

No longer has a job. Neither does most of Gamevideos. No more 1UP Show. Thank you, all of you, for the run!

Source: http://twitter.com/talkingorange

Originally Posted by skip:

thanks for your support with the podcasts. it was fun.

Word is about 30 people got canned :(

[Sethos]

Only ever heard of 1UP through AB's constantly praising of their Podcast :rofl:

So this gets a big, fat "Meh"

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Only ever heard of 1UP through AB's constantly praising of their Podcast :rofl:

So this gets a big, fat "Meh"

Don't go there bitch :rofl:

But seriously man, this is crappy. 1UP was a good website, and the guys were cool. Take it from me, the 1UP Show and 1UP Yours were awesome.

**** this economy.

[Rappy Veteran]

I always thought the 1UP Podcast was good but went on for a bit to long (length wise of the shows), but I had heard about Ziff Davis going bankrupt last year so I knew this was coming but not with so much fallout tho.

[Purple Haze]

Wow, to me the big news is EGM's death - I'd been reading that magazine almost constantly since before the SNES' release. Even through many changes, it remained (IMO) the best multiplatform gaming mag out there. Another part of my childhood gone. :cry:

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

Didums :p

MN.com podcast ftw

[(Spork)]

i have to agree this is a massive epic fail ! :(

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

If you guys want to follow this, GAF is moving at lightspeed (some of them are posting there as well). Quite a lot of folk canned, Shane's out :(

So far

Going:

Andrew "Skip" Pfister

Matt Chandronait

Ryan O'Donnell

Jay Fresh

Cesar Quintero

Philip Kollar

Nick Suttner

Anthony Gallegos

And Shane ****ing Bettenhausen!

James "Milkman" Mielke

Greg Ford

Giancarlo Varanini

Michael Donahoe

Andrew Fitch

Jason Wilson

Justin Haywald

Michael Grimm

Staying:

Confirmed to be Staying

Garnett Lee

Tina Sanchez

David Ellis

Matt Leone

Jeremy Parish

Sam Kennedy

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=347957

Edited January 7, 2009 by Audioboxer

[Guest xiphi]

Wow... no more EGM :( I grew up to that mag, and prefered it to any others due to its unbiased content and how it always retained it's integrity. Sure am gonna miss the gang.

[McSmiggins]

Absolutely gutted about this, been reading the forums for the last hour, didn't even get out of bed on a Saturday before I'd finished listening to 1UP Yours. (How will I know when my weekend is if no one confirms it!! :))

And the rest.. the 1UP Show, (GFW/)LAN Party, my iTunes podcast list just dropped off by about 80%

Really gonna miss the decent reviews and opinions, rather than the reshuffled press release most people seem to do.

Glad to see GAF and the 1UP forums exploding over it and showing support.

For people who don't know who they are, I'll put it like this, if your company got sold and Valve Software were one of the first people to publicly send you a message support, you know you've made it.

Really want to know more, Shawn Elliot's hinted there's even more of a s***storm coming.

[Ji@nBing]

1up Yours is gone!! I'm dead inside. Gutted!!! :(

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

[update: Joystiq has obtained the full list of 1UP / EGM staffers laid off in the wake of the ZD/UGO deal:]

Adrian Frieg

Amy Mishra

Amy Moran

Andrea Garcia

Andrew Fitch

Andrew "Skip" Pfister

Anthony Gallegos

Cesar Quintero

Christina Rosa

CoyLou Steel

Derek Chinn

Doug Parsons

Eric Ellis

Giancarlo Varanini

Greg Ford

James "Milkman" Mielke

Jason Bertrand

Jason Wilson

Jervilyn Jaramillo

Justin Frechette

Leslie Gelfand

Marci Yamaguchi

Matt Chandronait

May Tong

Meredith Stowe

Michael Donahoe

Monique Convertito

Ndubuisi Madu

Nick Suttner

Norris Boothe

Philip Kollar

Rey Serrano

Robert Bowen

Rosemary Pinkham

Ryan O'Donnell

Ryan Scott

Shane Bettenhausen

Simon Cox

Tammy Ross

Tipler Ubbelohde

Source: http://www.joystiq.com/2009/01/06/assessin...-damage-at-1up/

Damn :(

Drawing some attention, Ryan Payton in on the act! (MGS4 producer)

As a former freelancer and lifelong fan of the Ziff crew, I've always respected their commitment to pure journalism and reluctance to sell out.

Keep fighting the good fight, everyone. No matter where you land.

and Valve themselves

http://twitter.com/ValveSoftware

Edited January 7, 2009 by Audioboxer

[Ayepecks]

I liked 1Up... EGM... eh. I preferred their online coverage.

[EcPercy]

I wonder what will happen to my remaining 111 issues of EGM. I don't want PC Mag. I used to subscribe to PC Mag, but they totally changed their focus from PC's to cars and a bunch of other stuff I had no desire to read about. PC Mag will be dead next since that's all Ziff Davis has left....

[random_n]

I always knew a link to 1up.com meant good stuff. I hope UGO intends to keep most of the crew and somebody just dropped the ball with this. The last thing we need is another parked domain. :no:

[PL_ Veteran]

No more EGM leaked covers! :cry:

[Brad.]

Only ever heard of 1UP through AB's constantly praising of their Podcast :rofl:

Me neither, it's still a huge shame though.

[Denholm]

Sad to hear, I was a fan of 1UP Yours. :cry:

Tough times.

[knightracer]

I wonder what options there will be for my 104 remaining issues.

[Guest]

Holy ****, I'm absolutely gutted :cry:

Since 1UP Yours was Garnett's podcast, surely it'll continue in some way, shape or form? Right?

[ienhz]

Is 1up yours podcast confirmed gone for good? I just started listening to it in November and really enjoy it...

[Minifig]

Well.. if anyone wants them..

I'm selling my massive collection of EGMs..

I have almost every single issue (including the first four), and I'm only missing like.. six or seven issues.

[Guest]

Well.. if anyone wants them..

I'm selling my massive collection of EGMs..

I have almost every single issue (including the first four), and I'm only missing like.. six or seven issues.

eBay is your friend.

[Minifig]

eBay is your friend.

Thank you captain obvious.

I'm putting them up there too.

[Pheee]

Damn, it will never be the same, if the crew goes. What a shame, I just hope some of them band together and do a GiantBomb.com