Patch 5.2 interview with Dave Kosak
Inside an old alt's vault
The latest patch 5.2 news
All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsWorld of Warcraft: The Magazine, coming soon
by Michael Sacco 
Aug 20th 2009 at 2:48AM
In a rather surprising turn of events, Blizzard has announced that they're teaming up with publishing group Future to print a quarterly magazine about, you guessed it, World of Warcraft.
For the yearly subscription price of $39.95 USD, readers will receive four issues of the ad-free WoW magazine, including concept art, hints and sneak peeks at upcoming content patches and expansions, interviews with developers, strategies for raid and dungeon encounters, and more "insider and player perspectives". The issues are stated to be more than 140 pages long and glossy as heck.
It's admittedly rather shocking that a magazine like this is getting published -- not because of content or anything like that, but because print is considered a flagging medium. The formula for success here seems to be to offer a high-end product -- Future says they consider it more of a "collectible coffee-table book" than a magazine -- and sustain it on subscriptions alone, since it'll be free of advertising. Hopefully legions of fans will subscribe and give the 'zine its lifeblood, since it actually sounds pretty cool to me.
The first issue is scheduled to go to press at an as-yet-unknown date this fall, and is supposed to contain interviews with top guilds about Ulduar strategies, a retrospective on WoW for its fifth anniversary, and unnamed other content.
Those wishing to subscribe can visit the magazine's official website on August 21st -- that's BlizzCon day one -- and enter their info there, or visit the WoW Magazine booth at the 'Con itself.
Filed under: Fan stuff, Blizzard, News items
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 4)
nobbie Aug 20th 2009 8:32AM
The official magazine site is not yeat available because you can *bet* that it will contain loads of infos and pictures from 'cataclysm' ;)
kia Aug 20th 2009 6:10AM
I'd sub. I used to be quite the magazine addict, but that was replaced by an internet addiction instead. Much cheaper, and results in a lot less piles of discarded old issues lying around the house! I do still enjoy buying the occasional high-end publication though, esp fashion and architecture and photography magazines, because they're more art than anything else. So this Blizzard effort sounds great to me. It does seem like an unusual move for them to make though, so I hope it pays off for them.
And no, I don't want, or expect, any in-game items in exchange. Buying the product will be enough, if it's good. I have a gazillion non-combat pets I forget I even have as it is.
mandalayx Aug 20th 2009 6:20AM
So that's why Sean Molloy left GFW...
Bonksy Aug 20th 2009 6:40AM
Soon™
Zanthexter Aug 20th 2009 6:43AM
It's a shame really. I'd pop $10-$15 for the magazine if it was decent, ads or no ads.
Shoot, I'd have dropped $10 in a heartbeat to stream Blizzcon, $40, nah, it's just to steep.
It's more than the retail cost, it's the belief that Activision is selling a $4 item for $10. I want to think that out of game tie-ins have enriching my WoW experience as a goal at least as important as Activision being profitable. Lately though, it seems that anything WoW themed is candy designed to entice me into a dark alley for Activisions own fun and enjoyment. Not such a good thing to be reminded of next time I see that "special in game pet".
Now, if they flip and come out with $5 for a .PDF subscription, released say 2 weeks after the print version, I'm there!
Candina@WH Aug 20th 2009 7:38AM
Sorry, not going to subscribe.
While the content sounds cool. I don't read paper mags anymore. I made a personal decision to stop reading paper magazines, newspapers, catalogs, phone books, etc. Saves on trees, and keeps my recycle bin from overflowing :-).
And for the record, I'm not a collector. And I don't have a coffee table ;-) So that angle is lost on me.
Stevee Vader Aug 20th 2009 7:48AM
Agreed same here I used to read mags a lot until I realised all the content is on the internet I already give 9 quid a month to blizzard I don't want to make my annual fees to blizzard to 220 quid a year total 260 dollars plus expac packs etc I don't want t turn playing wow into a huge money sink
I have heard of turning things into a time sink but what the hell and plus I am only a student who is also in grahics so most of my actual money goes into technology to prefect my art
Stastically a lotta players are in their twenties and nowadays money is a lot precious especially if you're of a lower class
The 40 quid for a 16 hour live feed kinda ticked me off simply cus blizzard flagged ther community site all for the sake for paying ozzy's bill
Chilblain Aug 20th 2009 8:28AM
If this is anything like their "official podcast" it will come out sporadically at best, and be 2 months behind the times.
I'll stick to WoW Insider.
xvkarbear Aug 20th 2009 8:37AM
Will they have this on "newsstands" ?
Meaning can I just spend $15 or whatever and get it at a store when it comes out? Or is it strictly by subscription?
Nathanyel Aug 20th 2009 9:18AM
If it's available at newsstands, too, expect a $9.99 price.
dcisko Aug 20th 2009 10:34AM
Their whole business model is centered around Print On Demand. One of the most expensive things about magazine publishing is printing all those extra copies that get sent to bookstores, etc. Most never sell and are destroyed. Avoid that and your business gets a lot more profitable.
So no, you won't be able to buy this at the bookstore or newsstand.
Joester Aug 20th 2009 8:54AM
for 40$.... for 4 issues.. it better receive some pics of the GMs and Blizzard staff of what their desk looks like, and some autographs.
Jason Aug 20th 2009 9:13AM
I subscribe to the EVE online magazine and I don't even play the game! It's just a very nice magazine. It's also $15/issue. Not a single ad in it. Glossy cover, high quality paper. These things are the nicest magazines I have ever read.
Look at it this way, PC Gamer newstand price is $9/issue and it's loaded with ads. They make a very high price from you and then a ton of money from advertisers. Half the magazine is ads! So i'd rather pay more for magazine that is full of content.
LostOne Aug 20th 2009 9:15AM
It doesn't really sound like the magazine would have anything in it you can't already find on wow.com or mmo-champion.
wolfsterne Aug 20th 2009 9:33AM
Stormdragon from company of the wolf mentioned this way back in June and blogegd about it in July. (http://companyofthewolf.org/?p=64 ) There seems to be so many better news sources out there than sites like wow.com and Massivley yet they get 1/3 of the traffic.
weird.
carlybaby81 Aug 20th 2009 11:41AM
You know wolf you might want to check out Stormdragons latest blog on that http://companyofthewolf.org/?p=255 folks like you who are making more of this than it is is why he is less than happy about the whole situation...and I can't say as I blame him.
Stormdragon and Faymar have one of the best blogs out there for grown up gamers, but they aren't insiders...and it's realy unfair for people like you to paint them as such.
Alja Aug 20th 2009 10:38AM
I will probably subscribe. I think it's a neat idea and hopefully will be filled with pretty things and content - plus I'm just a sucker for whatever blizzard throws at me - I have no shame.
MCRaider Aug 20th 2009 9:58AM
I would have picked this up in a heartbeat 3-years ago when the game was actually good.
However I think the mag is trying to get articles,guides, discussion and opinions along with facts from the source.
Sure we have the web and the most up-to-date news but I would rather have information straight from the horses mouth then from a site where we get a bit of news based on "credible" sources.
OMG NEW EXPANSION CLASSES OLD CONTENT NEW CONTENT ITS AN EXPANSIONS!!!!1
That is what we get with breaking news, all speculation with little to no real information. I can see this mag having some content being voiced from Blizzard which is always a plus.
Also reading a newspaper or mag just has that feel to it which you can get from reading on the web.
Alchemistmerlin Aug 20th 2009 10:04AM
I'm torn on this.
10 dollars an issue isn't that bad (And if the marketing moogles in charged thought it out, that's really how they should promote it. Not "40 dollars subscription" but "Only ten dollars an issue!")
The information in it is ALL going to be old. The reason paper is dying is because the internet just gets news faster.
Paper is dead.
They'll probably be giving away free pets and shit *sigh*.
I hate being a sucker.
Manic Soul Aug 20th 2009 10:18AM
Print is only considered a flagging medium because nobody prints anything objective anymore - there's always some biased slant in everything. As a result, less and less people are buying it. But, that's what they get for playing favorites.