Official PlayStation Magazine Is the UK's Last Licensed Publication

Damn, nothing beats opening the plastic wrappings of the latest gaming magazine, happily flipping and reading through it while the smell of the new magazine paper seep through your nose. Quite sad to see the end of print media. 😢

Ah, this brings back memories. Haven't purchased a gaming magazine in years but, back in my secondary and sixth form days, I used to love picking up the official PlayStation publication every month.

The fact that it always came with a playable demo disc will certainly date that particular anecdote.

Long may it continue, for those who still read it!

I used to get the official Sega one as a kid, then the PS one from the age of about 14. I'd get all sorts of others too, like NME, Melody Maker, Empire, Edge, Games Master, CVG, some skating ones, and more. Even this terrible N64 one that clearly used a camera to take screenshots instead of a capture card so it looked fan made.

Thing is as much as I loved them, it did get to the point a number of years ago where I'd get the latest issue and then kind of force myself to read about things I'd already read online weeks ago. I can go on about the nice experience of actually holding it in your hands, the smell, the glossy paper etc, but ultimately I was paying a fiver to hold a stack of paper for half an hour.

@Matroska that was exactly my problem. I shifted to digital versions because they were cheaper but then it was the same problem of month old news without the added bonus of actually having a mag to flip through.

Magazines died for me once GamesTm was bought out and then shut down. Now i only read stories online. Sadly i don't think OPSM will be around for long.

I did just buy an issue of the final ever Vita mag though, but thats because im a vita obsessive and it doesn't matter at all about news being out of date. I just like reading about it. And i've backed the kickstarter for a 3rd vita book that is being written by youtuber 2old4gaming

sad day indeed, i love buying the gaming magazines back in the day as a kid, used to subscribe to official playstation magazine and official nintendo magazine uk games tm for a while too.

online has killed all that which is a real shame.

Shame.

I remember reading PS magazine when the ps3 was in it's early
Years and Reading about gta 4 and resitance etc.

I don't read them anymore but still shame to see an end of an era.

It's a shame that magazines (and certainly computer magazines) are a dying breed. I remember the joy with going to my newsagent, buying Your Sinclair, Crash, Sinclair User, then ACE, then Amiga Power, Amiga Format ... I used to spend a fortune on them! It was great reading the news, reviews - the only way to find out about games back then! I also had the first 2 years' worth of Edge and Retrogamer (I was even in Retrogamer when I maintained my old Spectrum gaming website). Aaaah reminiscing ...!
Like many people, I get my news from sites like this, for free, so it's clear to see the rapid decline of the printed magazine (which has happened for at least a decade). It is a shame, though.

Sad day. I currently subscribe to the Official UK PlayStation Magazine. I miss the US version of the magazine and was reading it when it not the official magazine for PlayStation. Nintendo Force and Switch Player are some of the last great physical magazine even if they are unofficial.

"PlayStation 5 enthusiasm will hopefully keep OPM alive for another generation"

you could say the same about the Series X but that didn't stop OXM shutting down so i wouldn't take it for granted

I have an active subscription, love the magazine, but hate the silly decals, coasters and posters, wish they brought the demo discs back, it would be cool if they could get exclusive demo's not available on the PlayStation Store. Never gonna happen though. But I hope they keep going regardless.

I used to read Retro Gamer but stopped when, somehow, the price for imported copies in local stores was increased. I would really like to check it again at some point.

Whiles this is sad news, as it most likely means job losses and the loss of more magazines, it IS a good thing if it saves some trees from being cut down.

Such a shame gaming mags and print in general is dying, there's been some sad losses recently eg. GamesTM, PSM, Play and Gamesmaster ( which is the saddest loss) but I fear Edge and OPM will surely soon follow 😢

Being old school I still buy the official PSM every month, so hope it doesn’t go the same way as the others.

I still read computer magazines always have done from games master to cvg to every single console mag out there, this truly is a sad day for me I read them when I go to bed it helps me relax and so what if the information is old I'd rather read a well written preview/review than any of the attention seeking crap ppl post online!!! I don't even know where to begin online it seems to be a sea of me me me generation looking to get themselves noticed with a crappy review and a ton of poxy ads and they have to say something edgy otherwise No1 will look at their posts....sucks

@AdamNovice
Good man

@FullbringIchigo Think there is as bigger audience from PS fans. Just because one magazine shuts down does not necessarily mean other similar mags are gonna follow.

I still sub, have been for just over 5 years now. And I still will, until it continues.

My magazine of choice was playstion world. Their reviews. Game play. Cheat codes. And not afraid to give a bad score. Colin mcrae 3 psw 9/10. God of war 10/10. R.i.p

Official playstation magazine NL shut down a few years ago, I think I have all their issues from 2013 to them shutting down. It’s a shame. I was subbed to 3 magazines and 1 by one they all shut down, tried 2 other magazines after that but 1 felt too much “dude bro” to me and focused to much on COD and FIFA. The other felt really cheaply produced. I think both shut down in the mean time too.

Here in the netherlands we only have pc gamer left as far as I know, all the others either shut down or continued as youtube channels or websites/blogs.

I used to love OPM back when it was pretty much staffed by PlayStation Access' OG line up, but here's the thing, given the amount of plastic packaging (and the manufacturing costs to the environment) combined with the inate latency of print compared to internet news, magazines are irrelevant now. It makes a lot more sense to read news and interests online. Both in terms of speed and environmental impact.

It's sad that magazines have become a relic, an archaic reminder of how patient we used to be, but such is the nature of progress.

Ha go back to the 80s and 90s with

Amiga Power
Sega Power
GamesMaster
Mean Machines Sega

To name a few