Anger at previous retro gamer

Randall Flagg · Post by **Randall Flagg** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 7:32 am

Hi, amazing mag, thank god its back!!!!!!! Have been pining for some months!!

Just reall y wanted to vent a bit of anger regarding the previous retro gamer team/set up and wondered if they had annoyed anyone else apart from me...

Basically after collecting every retro gamer issue I decided in July this year to subscribe (Bad Timing LOL!!!). I went up to CGE2005 expecting to meet the team but no Retrogamer stall. I waited patiently for my next issue and my free TV plug-in game but nothing, emails were sent and I was constantly assured that there was nothing to worry about, mag gone bi-monthly, new stocks of TV plug-in games about to arrive. This went right on up to about a week before I read on a forum that the mag and the company had gone into receivership. Shock Horror!!!!

I was one of the lucky ones. As I haden't received any issues from RG my bank crowbarred a full refund from RGs bank but lots of people lost out.

What annoyed me wasn't the fact that they went into receivership (well, apart from missing the mag!) but the fact that everyone had covered this up and that I'd been lied to. You can't tell me that both the team and the company didn't know this was going to happen! Instead of being up front and honest to their loyal readers we fed a load of BS.

Am i the only one that was vexed??

LeeT · Post by **LeeT** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 7:49 am

I'm sure some of the people at Live did have suspicions about what was happening - However you have to understand how these things work - The people on the 'upper floors' usually start sweating and demanding more productivity (in this case, a plea for more subscriptions) whilst giving very little info to the underlings (ie the editorial team).

I've worked for a music retailer who went bust and in the months leading up to it, they were constantly on our backs, trying to get more sales, make sure faulty items were sent back to each company to get the credit back, etc. Then it happened - They closed down branch by branch over a week. Then amazingly set up a new company the next day to keep their aiport stores open.

At the end of the day you got your money back and you didn't lose out. Yes I think its wrong the way it ended, but at least RG is back with a decent company, so let's celebrate that...

sparky · Post by **sparky** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 7:50 am

Randall Flagg wrote: What annoyed me wasn't the fact that they went into receivership (well, apart from missing the mag!) but the fact that everyone had covered this up and that I'd been lied to. You can't tell me that both the team and the company didn't know this was going to happen! Instead of being up front and honest to their loyal readers we fed a load of BS.

Am i the only one that was vexed??

Hi Randall Flagg,

This topic has been covered long ago when many people on the old RG forum were asking the same questions and subsequantly at the start or the Retrosurvival forum.

I think the majority of us have put it to rest as a bad experience, some of us are still in contact with some of the old team who were forced into a 'gagged' situation.

Time to let it go I think.

Randall Flagg · Post by **Randall Flagg** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 10:49 am

Anger let go. While writing this post I felt it all dissipate!

DonkeySpank · Post by **DonkeySpank** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 12:00 pm

I understand your feelings mate - I vowed never to sub to a magazine again after the Live fiasco (subbed for 1 isue out of 12 and got ZERO refund) but after seeing & reading the "new" RG I'm a convert.

So, whilst I wasn't "best pleased" at losing Â£40-odd, I'd rather continue enjoying RG, especially since the Retro Ball where I met a few forum guys who turned out to be "good lads" and not just "cyber-mates (natch)"

seanmcmanus · Post by **seanmcmanus** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 7:21 am

There was no real transparency of what happened with RG, which raises the question of whether Imagine can run it as a viable business - ie, is the RetroGamer model inherently flawed, or was it just Live that messed it up? I don't know the answer to that, and since it failed once I'm reluctant to subscribe again. Smart move to offer shorter subscription periods though - if I do subscribe again, it certainly won't be for 12 issues.

Sean

Post by **CraigGrannell** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 7:34 am

It's likely that Retro Gamer didn't kill Liveâ€”it was apparently a profitable magazine before, and I imagine it still is now. It was, according to the little information known, some of Live's other titles that were under-performing that dragged the company down. Imagine's management aren't foolsâ€”they'd not buy a magazine likely to cause a loss, especially when the company is so young.

LeeT · Post by **LeeT** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 9:52 am

CraigGrannell wrote:It's likely that Retro Gamer didn't kill Liveâ€”it was apparently a profitable magazine before, and I imagine it still is now. It was, according to the little information known, some of Live's other titles that were under-performing that dragged the company down. Imagine's management aren't foolsâ€”they'd not buy a magazine likely to cause a loss, especially when the company is so young.

It was probably all of the twenty thousand PC magazines that all looked the same that killed them.

Del Boy · Post by **Del Boy** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 3:30 am

I only lost a couple of quid on the Zzap64 thingy (I ordered it off their website but never received it). I guess I should of got my RG from Whsmiths instead

Im not that bothered about losing the Â£2, ...but I really wanted the Zzap mag! I was really into Crash and Zzap64 back in the days.

Spiff · Post by **Spiff** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 9:06 am

If Retro Gamer had killed Live, Imagine wouldn't have restarted publication!

chinnyhill10 · Post by **chinnyhill10** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 12:36 pm

Spiff wrote:If Retro Gamer had killed Live, Imagine wouldn't have restarted publication!

Exactly. Retro Gamer was about the only good thing that the company had among it's magazine and it is a magazine that will go on to greater success now it has decent resources behind it. It now looks and feels like the magazine it was always trying to be and it's blatent that alot more resources have been put into it.

Imagine should be applauded for being the publisher who saw the oppertunity that the title offers. It's the kind of thing that a (once small) company in Bath used to do, and look at them now! Although I hope Imagine manage to keep their friendly face and not go all hard and corporate like the other guys have

Spiff · Post by **Spiff** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 1:04 pm

Yep!

Dudley · Post by **Dudley** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 1:17 pm

Imagine didn't buy anything else from Live did they?

Future started to lose it around the time they banned Stuart Campbell from all their mags.

MadHippo · Post by **MadHippo** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 11:31 am

Dudley wrote:Future started to lose it around the time they banned Stuart Campbell from all their mags.

I'm still bitter about Future buying out Dennis, and therefore Your Sinclair. It was never quite the same afterwards.

Still, I don't think they've "lost" anything - aren't they the biggest magazine publisher in the country?

Post by **CraigGrannell** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 12:42 pm

Uh, Future hasn't bought out Dennis (although it did buy all its gaming magazines fairly recently).

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