Arts Technica reports that Future Publishing is launching a print magazine about World of Warcraft. The magazine, World of Warcraft: The Magazine, will be published quarterly with heavy paper stock, a glossy cover. Each issue will contain 148 ad-free pages.
"This won't be driven by advertising; it's based on a print-on-demand format. We will launch the subscription website on Friday, monitoring who is subscribing in what language, and print that many copies exactly," John Gower, International Director of FuturePlus, told Ars. "This will be environmentally friendly—no waste." This print on demand format allows them to keep publishing costs as low as possible, and releasing magazines to subscribers only—no newsstand—will make sure no copies get thrown away.
"I'm not sure gamers were walking into Waldenbooks to find the newest information anyway," Dan Amrich, the magazine's editor in chief, said. So how will the quarterly magazine be advertised? The magazine will launch at Blizzcon, with people being able to subscribe for $39.95, £29.95, or €34.95. That may seem high for four issues a year, but the team is promising a high-quality, large format magazine with heavy paper stock, a glossy cover, and 148 pages an issue... and no ads. "We want this to be a nice surprise when people get it in the post, like unwrapping a Christmas present every quarter."
Future Publishing may have a shot with this even though we are in a recession and the print media is transitioning to digital formats. Some die-hard Warcraft players will probably subscribe. When Dungeons & Dragons was all the rage people would buy the manuals year after year because they contained beautiful illustrations and they were loaded with lots of interesting information. Details and subscription information for the magazine can be found at worldofwarcraftthemagazine.com.
Arts Technica 
