Britain's Favourite Game Mag Revealed

Here's a hint: You won't find any Sony coverage inside.

British video game fans have an embarrassment of choice when it comes to specialist magazines, but if you're a publisher, the only ones that concern you are Xbox 360 and Nintendo mags.

According to the latest figures from the Audited Bureau Of Circulation, a watchdog group, magazines covering Wii, DS and Microsoft's console are the only ones on the rise.

Of the 15 magazines included in the figures, as reported by MCV, five had higher monthly sales between January and June relative to the same period in 2006. Four of this group were magazines devoted to the Xbox 360.

The mostly popular video game magazine in the UK right now is Future's Official Xbox 360 Magazine, which sold on average 65,673 copies per issue in the first half of the year - a rise of more than 50 per cent.

Conversely, those dedicated to the PlayStation 2 saw their numbers tumble as attention shifts to the new wave of hardware. The biggest loser was Future Publishing's Official PlayStation 2 Magazine, down by nearly 60 per cent.

Hardcore darling Edge saw its circulation drop by 10 per cent to 30,021 per month. More than 20 per cent of the magazine's readership is outside of the UK.

Future did not release figures for its new PS3-tinted Official PlayStation Magazine, saying only that it showed "promising early sales" that were boosted by the recent bundling of a Blu-ray cover disc.

Below are the monthly sales figures for game-related magazines averaged over the first six months of 2007 and their relative rise or decline:

1. Official Xbox 360 Magazine (Future) - 65,673 (up 53.9 per cent)
2. Official Nintendo Magazine (Future) - 47,925 (up 34.7 per cent)
3. Games Master (Future) - 47,719 (down 10.6 per cent)
4. Official PlayStation 2 (Future) - 44,182 (down 55.9 per cent)
5. PC Gamer (Future) - 41,599 (down 8.2 per cent)
6. Microsoft Vista (Future) - 38,524 (New)
7. Xbox World 360 (Future) - 30,296 (up 30.7 per cent)
8. X360 (Imagine) - 30,179 (up 38 per cent)
9. Edge (Future) - 30,021 (down 10.6 per cent)
10. PC Format (Future) - 28,314 (down 7.1 per cent)
11. PC Zone (Future) - 24,385 (down 18.8 per cent)
12. PSM3 (Future) - 24,121 (down 33 per cent)
13. PlayStation World (Future) - 17,132 (down 50.3 per cent)
14. 360 Gamer (Uncooked) - 12,586 (up 37.8 per cent)
15. 360 (Imagine) - 12,017 (down 8.3 per cent)

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo