https://web.archive.org/web/20100923035000/http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=265454


In case you hadn't noticed, the last ever issue of PC Zone magazine went on sale this month.

The mag launched back in 1993, and was set to close this summer following a strategic review.

In the words of BioShock creator Ken Levine, "shit."

Farewell messages have been pouring in from all corners of the industry, including wishes from gaming giants Ken Levine, Peter Molyneux, Greg Zeschuk, Vince Zampella and Randy Pitchford.

Here's the games industry's tribute to Britain's longest running PC games mag.

For a 12-page retrospective and well, just to pay your respects, pick up the last issue of PC Zone in shops now, or alternatively buy it online and have it delivered to your door.


Dr Greg Zeschuk, co-founder of Bioware:"I think it was one of our biggest thrills - getting our Shattered Steel review in PC Zone. It's funny because we used to get it in Canada; some of the stores would have it. We'd buy it and it was, especially when compared to North American publications of the time, of so much of a higher quality. It was beefy, full of high quality art and just so well done. It's a shame. I still have this vault of all the issues that we have..."

Mark Rein, Vice President at Epic Games: "It is with great sadness that we witness the demise of PC Zone. Some of the proudest moments we've had involved hanging mounted PC Zone covers, which features one of our games on them, on the cover wall at Epic. We considered each one of those a badge of honour. To everyone that has worked at PC Zone over the years I want to express our gratitude for all the support you've given us and the service you done for the PC gaming industry both in the UK and around the world. We will miss you!"

Ken Levine, President and Creative Director at Irrational Games: "Can I curse? I hope so. Because the only thing I could think of when I heard PC Zone was coming to an end was: 'Shit'. As a gamer, I'll always love the PC because the things I PLAY are generally mouse/keyboard affairs, with tons of detail that you got to have your nose right up against the screen to take in. And Zone is nearly the last of a dying breed: a place to perv over hi-res images and long, loving previews of hard core PC games. Wanna learn about that new weird turn-based wargame from Russia? Read Zone. Wanna read a five hundred word think-piece on some old MicroProse game? Read Zone. Wanna feel a place where all the nerdy energy in the PC gaming space is crystallized into a physical product every single month? Read Zone. Thanks for the memories, PC Zone crew. You'll be missed."

Vince Zampella, co-founder of Respawn Studios (formerly of Infinity Ward and 2015): "I was thinking back to when PC Zone first started up, and it was far enough back that I couldn't pinpoint just how long it had been. After looking it up it was even longer than I had realized: looks like it has been 17 years?! We have shared many reviews, from games I've worked on to games I couldn't wait to get my hands on. This is a sad day. Best wishes to everyone, land safely."

Martyn Brown, Studio Director at Team17 Software Ltd.: "PC Zone has saved my skin so many times. The world will be a sadder place without it. However, since we changed the cleaning company, we rarely run out of bog roll these days."


Louis Castle, co-founder of Westwood, CEO of InstantAction and Mr Command & Conquer: "I remember fondly the support PC Zone offered for the Lands of Lore series of games. The editorial clearly appreciated the effort that went into the scale and complexity of the world and characters that made Lands of Lore a beloved series. They also acknowledged the trade-offs we made in real-time graphics in order to support the vast range of hardware in the market worldwide at that time. Truly a committed group of journalists who loved the complex story games Westwood was known to create. We'll miss the label but will always remember the people."

Harvey Smith, Game Director at Arkane Studios and formerly Lead Designer on Deux Ex: "Sad to see PC Zone go, but I'm certain that some of the people involved will rise up as part of something new, with the same passion for games. My best memory is maybe selfish: having PC Zone declare Deus Ex the best PC game ever was just completely stunning. Moments like that are life-changing at a very personal level. Subjective, and hard to even put into meaningful words. That sort of recognition is not only gratifying, but it helps guide game developers in a particular direction, shaping the future. You guys did such good work, so all I can say is thanks from all of us who love games of all stripes."

Feargus Urquhart, President of Obsidian and general Black Isle legend: "I was incredibly sad to hear about PC Zone heading toward their final issue. Over the last five years, PC Zone was my favourite magazine to get every month with the great covers, fun interviews and irreverent things said about games and gaming. And, games always got a fair shake in the magazine, plus the articles on small and indie games led me to download games that I would have absolutely missed otherwise. Kudos to the last 17 years, you'll be missed!"

Randy Pitchford, CEO and President of Gearbox Software. (Also: awesome magician.): "I was saddened to hear the news of PC Zone's end. I've been a reader for many, many years and have grown to enjoy and respect the particular flavour and quality of your magazine. Your audience will miss PC Zone - I know I will. But I'm confident that the unique style you've developed will live on in you and the other members of the team in the things that each of you all go on to do next. Please give the whole crew my best regards and make a kick ass final issue."

Chris Taylor, CEO and Founder of Gas Powered Games and formerly Cavedog supremo: "I was walking through the office, and we have your magazine covers up on our walls as posters, so we totally feel the support you have given us... and we will for many years to come! PC Zone are a permanent part of our company and our culture.

Those early days of Total Annihilation and Cavedog are very special times. The community and the support that we had from all over the world: it was an amazing experience, and one that I will hold on to till I'm gone from this world. And believe me, words alone cannot express the appreciation to all those who built mods, ran sites, and did so much to spread the word on the game: first among them were top notch gaming magazines like PC Zone. If I could buy a million copies of your magazine to keep you in business I would!
Feel the love from all of us here at Gas Powered Games, and the sadness... please know how much your support meant to us!"

Oliver Collyer, founder of Sports Interactive and Everton fan: "I remember PC Zone as one of the first big games magazines to give our game (then Championship Manager) and ourselves some proper respect. It felt like the guys playing it over there weren't clouded by fancy press releases or the game's lack of graphics and had simply come across a game they liked and wrote about it as such. They 'got' it I think. It didn't matter whether it was made by a glitzy team at EA or two brothers from Shropshire and their small but expanding team, and looking back this was entirely in keeping with the down to earth nature of the magazine and the top guys we were speaking to back then: Jeremy Wells and Patrick McCarthy. I read the magazine on and off for a while, although not in recent years and I always found it entertaining and funny and I was sad to hear it was ending. To PC Zone: *raises a glass*"

Kieran Brigden, Communications Manager at Creative Assembly: "It's rare that a games studio gets to review a magazine. And sad that we do so at its death. All funerals should be a celebration of life, and like your first love (or your first crack pipe) PC Zone and us have been through a lot. Most of the staff at CA have been PC Zone readers at some stage. Our lead Cinematic artist once won a skiing holiday in France by answering a quiz in the mag: he broke his leg.

We also fondly remember the massive and bloody cruelty of Charlie Brooker's cartoons that got the magazine banned from some UK stores. 'Games mag causes parental outrage' was the start of a beautiful trend. One of our senior QA guys once wrote an interview for Zone in which he extolled the virtues of QA as an entrance to the industry. He's still the senior tester on Total War.

Our Creative Director Mike Simpson, said his only regret with PC Zone was that "We didn't poach any of their staff". With half of the old Gamer team working here, it's not for a lack of trying. In summary, it's been an awesome ride and it's sad to see Zone go."

Peter Molyneux, Creative Director of Microsoft Game Studios Europe and Bullfrog maestro of old: "It's been a rocky road of highs and lows, of cooperation and communication, previews, reviews and interviews. Plus, as developers, sitting on the edge of our seats waiting to see that PC Zone review score or, as industry insiders, laughing at PC Zone's low scores for competing products. We've seen child journalists turning into industry and show biz tycoons. We've framed their covers and put them on our walls. So it's with deep sadness, regret and near suicidal depression that we say goodbye to an old friend much loved, much admired and very much appreciated. Thanks for all the ink!"

Ed Stern, Lead Writer at Splash Damage: "PC Zone is closing down? Was it something we said? Gags aside, it's a real shame this is the last issue of 'C Zone and we feel the loss keenly. T'Zone dispensed life-giving puffs of publicity oxygen back when Splash Damage was but a mod team. The 'One featured us in its 'Best Of British' series, which really made us feel like we were up to something. The 'Ne was always positive without being uncritical of our games, and generally did the platform and mod scene proud. And let us not forget the long and broad shadow that the E will cast for years to come. Its telltale tone, its standout style, as former ink-stained-wretch-now-Flippant-Seer-In-Chief Charlie Brooker put it 'a cross between Viz and Which?', it endures and flavours the entire games culture. And thus, culture.

And now there's nothing left. Did you see what we did there? We made the title "PC Zone" disappear. It's enormously laboured look-at-us, we-know-you-know-we-know-what-we-did PC Zonesque half-jokes like that we'll miss the most. That and the extraordinary vigour and potency of its readers. Best of luck to all involved: you will all go on to even greater great greatness."

Brian Fargo, CEO of inXile Entertainment and former Interplay legend: "Having been a PC Gamer myself long before console I am especially sad to see one of the first magazines to cover the space go away. It feels like the end of an era."


Tim Willits - Creative Director at id Software: "PC Zone has been one of my favourite PC magazines. Of all the magazines, both in the US and Europe, PC Zone is the ONLY game magazine I have a subscription to. Yes, it's hard to believe that the only gaming magazine I read is shipped to me from the UK every month but it is. I'll miss PC Zone..."

Emil Pagliarulo, Lead Designer at Bethesda Softworks: "As an American developer and gamer, I continually found myself shocked by PC Zone. Every month I read through a magazine that somehow managed to combine wit, profanity, insight, analysis and honesty in a way I never thought possible. But what really impressed me was the fact that this irreverent British magazine transcended borders, and truly represented PC gamers the world over. It's been a great run, guys - you'll be sorely missed."

Todd Howard, Executive Producer at Bethesda Softworks: "One thing PC Zone did better than anyone else was tell us about games of the future, while teaching us about games of the past. It wasn't just full of glorified previews, it included everything that made PC gaming great. I hope we remember it as well as they remembered the best games."

Jonathan Smith, Head of Production at Traveller's Tales: "Goodbye PC Zone. Thanks for your words and pictures. We were planning to make a new LEGO game which brought to life your monthly adventures through the medium of cute block-based platforming. But now we won't. See you!"

Doug Lombardi, VP of Marketing at Valve: "A favourite song writer of mine once wrote and recorded a sad bit of truth, 'The future has to change, and to change you've gotta destroy.' Well, change is upon us and the golden age of print has clearly come to an end. Gone are the days of rushing to the mailbox to see if one of our favourite import magazines was there for the finding. With the passing of PC Zone the industry has not only lost one of its longest-running magazines, but one of the most cleverly-written and insightful news authorities.

Zone was a magazine oozing personality. Be that the stylish wit of Mr. Woods. The dry, but telling prose of Mr. Sefton. Or the always-finding-the-silver-ling-in-the-shit-pile style of Mr. Korda. The work of these gents, and the many others who treated us each month to their writings for decades at Zone, will be sorely missed. Here's hoping the digital age can reach the incredible level of entertainment delivered in magazines such as Zone. And cheers to all the men and women who put it together. May many happy and fruitful days lie ahead for you all."

Scott Miller, founder of Apogee / 3D Realms: "I've read PC Zone since the beginning, and have learned from every issue. For the last many years it's been my only printed source for PC gaming news. And PC gaming will always remain my home - at least until the day comes when shooters don't need to be dumbed down to accommodator console controllers. I'll miss PC Zone's biting attitude and to-the-point opinions. This is the magazine Duke would read. That's the best compliment I can make. All the best, especially to Will Porter, long time contact for me at the magazine and someone I could always trust."

Charles Cecil, Managing Director at Revolution Software: "PC Zone, bless 'em, were the first magazine to review the original Broken Sword. They were given a half-finished version by the publisher, asked to review it as if it was finished, and slagged it off. Thankfully their detrimental reception was unique amongst the reviews. But we came to forgive and then to love them for their honesty and irreverence. They will be greatly missed."

Mike Capps, President of Epic Games: "I just heard that PC Zone will be shutting down the presses after seventeen years, and I can't decide if I'm heartbroken or pissed off. Both, I think. For years, PC Zone was literally the only games magazine I read. This kind of loss to the industry makes me want to go online and frag someone... which is what reading their magazine has made me want to do every month for seventeen years. I can't tell you how many times I've pointed a new gamer to PC Zone for the 'must play' lists. Whenever we'd discuss which media to contact about a new product, PC Zone would be in the top rank. They earned that with great reporting, fast turnarounds, great layouts, and most of all, respectful treatment of games, gamers, and game developers. Sorry, guys. First pint's on me."

Will Porter