Imagine cuts Play print magazine after 21 years

Magazine publisher Imagine has axed the print version of PlayStation-focused brand Play.

Issue 269 will be the last edition of the publication to come to newsagents. The firm says it will continue to release a digital version of Play on the App Store and Google Play digital storefronts.

Play started life in 1995 alongside Sony’s first PlayStation.

The games industry owes an immense debt to magazines such as Play,” Imagine’s publishing director Aaron Asadi said.

It seems alien now but years ago these magazines were all fans had to learn about the games and consoles they loved the most.

These magazines were made by people who cared deeply about this new form of entertainment at a time when it wasn’t always popular to. It’s really no exaggeration to say Play and others like it helped make the games industry what it is today.

But the world has changed, there’s less space for games magazines, publishers don’t believe in the format as much, and fans have more than one way to engage with games.

Play has withstood so much of this change when others around it have faltered and faded away. But it’s not invincible so after two decades and 269 issues we decided to make Play a digital-only title.”

He continued: Going digital will mean we have an opportunity to take better advantage of the medium. Play will do what it’s always done. It’s still Play, just paperless.”