Official Nintendo Magazine Announces Closure in the UK

Sad to see this go, though from what I've seen on the ONM website over the past while, this was to be expected... =(

Considering what I've heard and seen about them recently, I suppose it was only a matter of time... At some point, the quality of both the website and the mag kinda just dropped.

At least no-one lost their jobs.

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Balls it's the way of magazine's nowadays sadly. At least I still have Retro Gamer to get every months and their massive bumper issues every 4 months.

Anyone know what's going on with the American (kickstarter) Retro mag? Haven't received the last two issues and been in contact with them in August and September, they told me there was an issue with their printer company but would be sent out in a week but nothing has turned up since

That's a shame. It's been hard to find the magazine lately though, with most Supermarkets dropping it, and even WHSmith had very few copies. I used to read the magazines a lot, though I preferred NGamer (I may be slightly wrong on the name). I'll pick up a copy of the last issue for collection purposes though.

Unfortunately the Internet has done away with many of the reasons people bought gaming magazines. They need to either be something different like Retro or have that highly regarded writing such as Edge, because they'll never be first with the news anymore.

I wish we have (or know) some sort of Nintendo-centric magazine here in Italy like ONM. I'll gladly subscribe to one.

Nintendo should do more than just a Direct to increase awareness. They need to release an interesting Nintendo mobile app/game which also links/advertises new games, trailers and Directs. Looking at other gaming sites, Nintendo articles are being outnumbered by PSXBox games (multiplat included since they are skipping the Wii U).

@HappyMaskedGuy
You mean like:

This is a sad day. Not a good sign. Makes it worse to promote nintendo to people.

I get all my news from the web and so does everyone reading this article. this means less expenses for Nintendo and nobody had to lose their jobs. This is not a big deal.

Not to sound like an *ss but I'm surprised it lasted this long. Especially in COD/FIFA walhalla aka the UK.

Still fondly miss N64 magazine - its quality was unprecedented. Bought ONM couple of times this year... bits of it are ok though some of the reviews carry a kind of immature writing style that's hard to explain.

This news surprises me - for some reason I thought the official magazine would always continue. But then there's the internet and Wii U's comparatively limited success...

When all is said and done RIP N64 Magazine and 90s Rareware - they were a duo that gave the best memories in videogame comedy and creativity.

The Australian version of this magazine launched a few years ago and I think it has been about a year since it has been discontinued completely in Australia. I used to notice them all the time, but due to the often samey content that was included from issue-to-issue, I had only bought the magazine once every few months or so, or whenever there was a cool gift. It was nice to have. Even though I'm a Nintendo junkie that is already familiar with a lot of the information in the magazine, I enjoyed reading it from time to time. I was saddened to see it go, and it's a shame that the overseas iterations have suffered the same fate.

Sad, but I'm not surprised. How can you make a magazine of reviews a month when there's less than 3 games released per month on 2 systems- sometimes none.

Plus, we all tend to get our Nintendo news from the internet- mainly Nintendo Life.

I stopped buying this magazine when I discovered this website about 2 years ago

There's always Nintendo Force Magazine.

This is a really sad day, I've enjoyed sitting down to a issue of ONM/NOM every month for a decade so this feels like a piece of my childhood disappearing.

@DreamyViridi The quality of the mag did not drop.

I was sadly expecting this. I had started visiting it regularly around the time Chandra left. At the time they had a bunch of podcasts and youtube series all of which seem to have suddenly stopped not that long ago.
Whilst I was always an irregular buyer, I'd often buy Christmas issues to get an insight on what to ask for. It hurts that I will no longer be able to pick it up.

On an interesting note, the job vacancy they advertised earlier in the year was the most applied for job in Future Publishers history.

Sad news

Unfortunate, but expected in this day and age. I moved to digital magazine descriptions over the last 2 years.

A good replacement would be for Nintendo to help set up an official App that would provide up to date content and info. I will however miss the reader letters, at least they were vetted and those that appeared tending to raise valid points and constructive statements (kinda rare in some comments sections these days).

We in the States know all to well about these things! Wish you guys the best. I miss my Nintendo Power! 😢

@readyletsgo I just received the new issue of retro last week. Yours is probably on the way too.

Also, for anyone else on here that misses Nintendo Power - check out Nintendo Force. Kickstarted funded and now on its second year. It's a great follow-up to Nintendo Power and definitely keeps the nostalgia alive.

@MrGawain Have you ever read the magazine?

At last Nintendolife, we got em! Now prep the sandship and onward to bigger prey.

The old days of print mags were cool, Zzap!, Sega Force, Sega Power, Mean Machines, Total... I stopped buying mags in the 32 bit era when I moved to the Saturn, but returned when 'Retro Gamer' was published here in the UK, which I have from issue 1, and I still buy in print every month.

I suppose the circulation must have dropped very low, seems odd though as I thought an official mag is a good way to promote stuff.

I was a subscriber of Nintendo Gamer (NGamer) & am also a subscriber of ONM. DANG! GUTTED!

Sadly, the immediacy of news on the web has done for many print publications. Reference items (specials on stuff like Mario or the Human Body) and instructions (like craft magazines, build a boat etc) seem to be doing well. Best of luck to all the staff.

I preferred it when it was NMS.

@jkirchgessner07 cool. I'm based in Ireland so hopefully it's just a delay in postage. Did you get the previous issue with wario on the front too? I'm missing that one from July or when ever it came out.

Nintendo force I'll defo look into that too, thanks for the tip

Damn..... The last Nintendo mag! Really sad day. Been buying this since the appallingly named Nintendo Magazine System. Guessed it was coming though coz the site wasn't exactly up to date recently. Ive been downloading my copy from Zinio. Can't believe I'll never look forward to another issue.

@readyletsgo the one I just got has wario/sonic on the front.

Well umm, this is a shocker for someone who has bought every single issue of the magazine since it launched in 2006. I'll admit I wasn't reading the new issues a lot but I still enjoyed them greatly. I'm not even sure if they're done with their spine art. Oh well, goodbye ONM, it was nice knowing you lot.

@Dragoon04 Despite the "official" name, the magazine was never owned or published by Nintendo.

I've had the Official Mag in the UK since the N64 days, sad it's over... but as long as NL keeps going I'll be in good hands for Nintendo news.

I had a sub for a while, still have a Villager keychain from one issue. Shame to see them go.

@MasterS7000
It's been down frequently as well.

Gutted but finally glad they've admitted it. Good news is no one is losing a job. I've read Gamesmaster in the past and found the pages to be too cluttered and full of stuff i'm not interested with so i'll be cancelling. Best of luck to those who have been affected.

As a NOM and then ONM reader since 2004 (my first issue was given to me by Nintendo UK after I had written to them!) I'm absolutely gutted about this. I hope the brilliant Matthew Castle will do his best to try and get a new Nintendo magazine started!

I also can't help but point out Future's massive mistake in their official announcement, this magazine's history goes back to 1992 not 2002. Shows how much the bosses care.

Edit: Oh I just read that Matthew's gone to Official Xbox Magazine like the other ONM writers. Yuck!

@Dragoon04
Nintendo didn't actually make the magazine. And for readers like myself, it is a big deal. An inevitable one, but it is still a bad thing.

I don't know if I'm the only one who feels like this, but I grow more and more resentful of the internet every day. If it wasn't for online multiplayer and youtube, I'd flat out hate it by now.

So sad. Just when I started to buy every month. I've been reading since 2008.

I did predict this in a thread (that I deleted) and most people didn't believe me. But I was right! MWAHAHAHAHA! JK, I'm pretty sad to be honest.

Gutted, been a subscriber for year's, really enjoyed the mag, they've done a great job but this was inevitable unfortunately. Very sad, I'll not be moving my subscription to any other mag, if that's what Future are hoping for, but good luck to all affected by this

@ZenTurtle I must of been lucky when I visited the site that it was never down. =)

The big clue was the fact that the last article on the site was over a month ago... =(

I remember buying a couple of magazines from them a couple of years ago when i was just starting in secondary school. I'm kind of sad to see them go, but with all these online blogs nowadays, it's not really unexpected.

Super Play (And Sega Power) were the only ones I liked. I am not interested in paying for Official anything when it comes to that.

Nobody focuses on imports either.

This is sad news but the writing has been on the wall for a little while.

The editor Matthew Castle was on his own producing last month's mag and the website is barely updated they still have E3 on the front page and absolutely no mention of the new 3DS so I knew this was coming.

I've bought a issue every month for many many years back when it was NOM ever since my first issue back in 96/97 time, Banjo Kaooie was on the front that's how long ago it was!!

It is a miracle in this day and age that it's lasted so long! I'll miss going down smiths to get my monthly mag! While I can get all the info faster off the net it's just not the same!

I am seriously going to crai

Yeah, it was only a matter of time really. Staff were being relocated to other magazines within the company left, right and center. The website has been a ghost town for months now, it was clear they weren't going to be around much longer. It's a real shame, I always enjoyed their monthly features. I guess this will be my one and only place for everything Nintendo from now on.

Disappointed. Poor Kate had barely got started!
Glad they still have jobs.

Such a shame but Games TM is the best video games magazine i like best.

@jariw

Yup, I buy it regularly. By Matthew Castle's own admission in the Penultimate edition on the first page, they were listing the top 100 3rd party games to 'pad out the mag'. It was a fun magazine with some good writers, but they've had trouble filling it with content.

I''m from the USA and I've been a subscriber for the last two years. They were very good and had comprehensive reviews on every single game released on Nintendo platforms including the classic game eshop releases. Definitely a better magazine than Nintendo Power was at the time of its demise. I think it is the last of the Nintendo magazines in English. I was hoping they could make it to 2015 because that looks to become the Wii U's golden year.

This is depressing. I mean, not only does this mark the end of a long history (the Nintendo Official Magazine days were awesome, right?), but also the end of Nintendo's only property to actually get how to connect with their fans. Seriously.

Maybe I'll buy the last issue just for nostalgia's sake...

We lost our Nintendo Magazine before it was cool.

Signed, North America.

R.I.P Nintendo Power...

BEEN SUBSCRIBED SINCE THE START WHYYYYYYY!!!

For now Nintendo World in Brazil stay alive.

I stopped buying the magazine when I started visiting this website.

So it's all nintendolifes' fault.

Websites like this are why magazines are as popular anymore.

The news is sad, I stopped buying the phyiscal copy ages ago but I did start buying it on the ipad. I got fed up with all the hype that Mario Kart 8 got, I always felt like it's review this month but it never was. I was playing the game before I read the review, I remember I use to buy Ngamer and I was always torn between the two. I saw in Ngamer once about a site in which you could see what VC games were out and I forgot where it was in the magazine so I googled it and found Nintendo life I look at the site every day. ONM was a good magazine I just hope future publishing can keep the Edge magazine alive. Thats a good magazine, I like games and retro gamer too. I will buy the last ONM in physical form and I like to think that they might give a tribute to the very first issue of the magazine. We see!

BTW I noticed on Nintendo's Europe, UK site that Nintendo Life is a partner to Nintendo that's not bad!

Now you know how it feels to lose a beloved magazine

R.I.P
Got my first issue in 1995, had a review of Donkey Kong Land for the Game Boy. I stopped reading many years ago but the mag gave me a lot of joy in it's prime.

Looks like need to get my big N news from here and games master mag, next they will be doing a Sega and not be involved in hardware except handhelds.

This is very sad news. I have been buying this magazine since the wii was released. to have no dedicated Nintendo magazine in the uk is a sad state of affairs. Got my final copy yesterday- although I read this site every day printed media actually compliments websites- they shouldn't be seen as diametrically opposed to one another

I remember going onto the website every day, much like I do now with Nintendo Life. After the website shut down, I came over here

Just revisiting this - the saddest day in my lifelong love for Nintendo.

Here's my collection: https://www.instagram.com/p/BZi4CAnBlV2/?taken-by=olrodlegacy

I hope you're all subscribing to Switch Player and Nintendo Force now, everyone - alongside Nintendo Life, of course..