Highbury Launches New Gaming Magazine

Publisher, Highbury House Communications and high-street retailer, The GAME, are planning to join forces to publish the official GAME magazine, with the first issue expected to go on sale in September.

The new publication will draw upon Highbury’s expertise in games publishing, giving game manufacture’s the chance to communicate with gamers at the point of purchase.

Mike Frey, managing director of Highbury Entertainment, believes that the new magazine will be “a highly influential official magazine in terms of converting readers into purchase.”

He explained that Christmas and early into 2006 would be an exciting time for gamers, with new consoles set for release, saying:”This Christmas and into 2006 will be perhaps the most exciting time yet for gamers with the launch of Sony’s PSP, followed by Microsoft’s next generation console, the X360, and the Sony Playstation 3.”

He added: “GAME magazine will allow games publishers to communicate directly with gamers on the high street about their releases for these platforms,” he added.

Yesterday, Highbury said that it had sold its Real Homes magazine to rival publisher, Hachette Filipacchi UK for £500,000 as part of its ongoing restructuring scheme.

Just weeks after shutting Home magazine, Highbury also announced the closure of another of its home-interest lifestyles magazines, Inspirations (see Highbury Offloads Real Homes To Hachette Filipacchi).

Earlier this year, Highbury House sold 38 magazine titles to rival publisher, Future, for a cash consideration of £30.5 million. The titles purchased include, Fast Cars, Fast Bikes, DJ, DVD Review, the What Video group of magazines and Highbury’s puzzle offerings (see NewsLine).