14 Feb 2000 |

Dreamcast Launch Takes Games Market To Next Level

The launch of Sega’s Dreamcast obviously had a significant influence upon the games magazine market during the latter half of 1999. It left Nintendo and Sony Playstation as effectively outdated machines and titles dedicated to these ageing models began to fall out of fashion. N64 Pro lost over half its circulation on the previous year, whilst more than 28,000 magazine buyers left Official Playstation Magazine for pastures new.

The influx of newly launched Dreamcast titles was led by Dennis’ Official Dreamcast Magazine, which debuted with an audit of over 50,000. The new titles caused the sector to grow by 11.4% to 1.2 million copies.

Gaming Magazines Circulations
Title	Publisher	Jul 98 – Dec 98	Jul 99 – Dec 99	Actual Change	% Change
64 Magazine	Paragon Publishing	31,062	25,045	-6,017	-19.4
64 Solutions	Paragon Publishing	21,204	16,933	-4,271	-20.1
Arcade	Future Publishing	n/a	26,053	n/a	n/a
Computer & Video Games	EMAP Active	78,485	60,104	-18,381	-23.4
Dreamcast Magazine	Paragon Publishing	n/a	41,498	n/a	n/a
Dreamcast Monthly	Quay Magazine Publishing	n/a	26,973	n/a	n/a
Dreamcast Strategies	Quay Magazine Publishing	n/a	21,087	n/a	n/a
Edge	Future Publishing	27,354	29,394	2,040	7.5
Gamesmaster	Future Publishing	64,565	61,106	-3,459	-5.4
N64	Future Publishing	73,217	67,016	-6,201	-8.5
N64 Pro	Paragon Publishing	26,600	11,650	-14,950	-56.2
Nintendo Official Magazine	EMAP Active	95,154	78,698	-16,456	-17.3
Nintendo World	Future Publishing	n/a	20,761	n/a	n/a
Official Dreamcast Magazine	Dennis Publishing	n/a	50,653	n/a	n/a
Official Playstation Magazine	Future Publishing	380,186	351,775	-28,411	-7.5
PC Gamer	Future Publishing	68,242	83,669	15,427	22.6
PC Gaming World	Ziff Davis	41,442	45,054	3,612	8.7
PC Zone	Dennis Publishing	68,725	78,183	9,458	13.8
Planet PC	Future Publishing	n/a	20,419	n/a	n/a
Play	Paragon Publishing	91,750	89,614	-2,136	-2.3
Playstation Strategies	Quay Magazine Publishing	n/a	25,425	n/a	n/a
Total		1,067,986	1,231,110	163,124	15.3

Future Publishing continues to dominate the gaming sector, with a current market share of 54% across the titles shown here.

Gaming Magazines Market Share By Publishing Company
Publishing Company	Jul 99-Dec 99
Dennis Publishing	128,836	10.47
EMAP	138,802	11.27
Future Holdings	660,193	53.63
Paragon Publishing	184,740	15.01
Quay Magazine Publishing	73,485	5.97
Ziff Davis	45,054	3.66
Total	1,231,110	100.00