With both media titans possessing similar editorial remits, many have argued that Edge and Games TM both court the same mature gaming demographic. Despite this however, this month’s (eerily similar) fan-boy baiting covers from the magazine giants had Edge announcing “This is your next console: Why the only option right now is PS4”, while Games TM also chimed in with “Round One: PS4 wins”.
With that being said however, and even though Edge and Games TM had both opted for the same “winner”, one often wonders as to which (£5) print publication offers the best value proposition. Who would win the magazine war?
In my opinion, Games TM is the superior choice even though it isn’t as established, or as well-rounded when it comes to the quality of its back issues (as the issues prior to Rick Porter taking over were sub-par). With that being said, Games TM is the closest incarnation of a multi-format magazine that gamers have which manages to retain any semblance of what magazines in the 90’s were like, where their mission statement was to both entertain and inform.
Nowadays, Edge’s content conveys the impression that it’s run by those who aren’t even gamers. Judging by the lack of passion evident in the title, it’s staffed by those who are more concerned with paying off their own mortgages, as opposed to keeping up with the gaming attitudes of the early 90’s in which anarchic characters like Jaz Rignall made gaming look like fun.
The redesign was a huge opportunity for Edge to take stock of the present gaming landscape and to reinvent itself in the process so as to set itself up as a trendsetter. Instead however, and as opposed to being the forward-thinking radical overhaul that it should have been, the redesign came across as being nothing more than an extremely conservative mis-step by a tired media “institution” that had ultimately lost its way and had failed to keep up with the times. Edge became the victim of its own success. A case of “damned if you do, and damned if you don’t” in which Edge was powerless in the face of market forces and fan expectation.
As a once towering gaming authority now shackled by the weight and expectation of its own legacy, where its former glories ended up burdening its future, Edge’s declining quality has rendered Games TM as the superior veritable alternative.