After the sad demise of EGM, it’s easy to assume that printed gaming media is going the way of the dodo, but UK based publisher Future is defying expectations, reporting a soar in profits, despite, and in some sense, due to, the economic downturn.
Future has a long history in publishing official publications for the various formats, as well as a number of successful PC titles such as PC Gamer and multiplatform titles such as Edge, and in the last few years has added seminal publications such as Nintendo Power to it portfolio.
The company’s annual report showed that Future’s year-to-year profits had increased and its debts had reduced by 10%. In an interview with MCV Future CEO Stevie Spring revealed Future’s secret.
“Console gaming did very well for us this year,” Spring told MCV. “It was aided and abetted by all three consoles being in uplift mode the world over.” Spring also attributes part of Future’s success to its dedication to specialist interests.
“It’s very simple,” she explained. “It’s the difference between want to have and need to have. If you describe yourself as a cyclist, it’s part and parcel of who you are. You’re almost a professional consumer in that regard – which is why we call them ‘pro-sumers’. Your monthly magazine is going to be way down the list of things you stop spending money on.
“That’s why we’re proving more resilient than the overall market. Also, our host sectors are doing well: particularly games, cycling and guitars. Everybody says there’s chaos at the newsstand, but on our top ten titles on both sides of the pond we were up by double digits in 2008 – around 13 per cent each,” she continued. This raises a point worth mentioning, that Future’s portfolio of magazines includes magazines devoted to film, sports, and technology in addition to gaming mags.
With Future’s massive presence in the market on both sides of the Atlantic, signs are good for Future’s, err, future.
Source: via Joystiq
