EGM Media, the current owners of the magazine Electronic Gaming Monthly and its archive, has announced a new book and digital archive project, which aims to honor the legacy of the iconic print publication.
If you were an avid supporter of video game magazines back in the day, you'll likely have no problem remembering Electronic Gaming Monthly. Originally launched in March 1989 under the publisher Sendai Publications, the iconic video game magazine had a truly astonishing print run despite changing ownership on a couple of occasions, lasting for a total of 264 issues before releasing its final issue in Summer 2014.
Since then, it has mostly existed in the form of a website, temporarily relaunching in 2019, with the idea of focusing on "long-form content, original reporting, and intelligent critique" (during which the author of this article briefly contributed as a freelancer), before switching its focus to news in 2020.
Pre-orders for the new book, which is being called the Electronic Gaming Monthly Compendium, will be available through a Kickstarter campaign created by Steve Harris (the original founder of EGM) and is set to include interviews and roundtables with former EGM editors, game developers, and influencers about the history (and legacy) of the magazine. This is in addition to long-form articles.
It will be available digitally (starting at $15), with a physical hardcover version (priced at $50) also being offered, alongside three special edition tiers that include other bonuses such as a print copy of the unreleased issue #237 from February 2009 (that went unpublished after the magazine was temporarily shut down) and access to a newly-made digital archive.
This digital archive is being described in the press release as "the first official way to read every issue of EGM on the web", and is a database featuring a mixture of print production files and magazine scans, which have been hand-indexed. This means that you should be able to easily look up the topics you want across different issues, and then jump to the corresponding magazine once you're able to find it.
You can discover more about the project over at its Kickstarter page, which is also where you'll be able to pick up a copy of the book. The estimated delivery date for the various rewards is February 2025.