Micromanía, the world’s oldest video game magazine, is closing its doors
Micromanía, the oldest video game magazine in Spain and the oldest in the world, opened in 1985, is closing its doors for good in January of this year, after almost 40 years at the foot of the canyon.
Micromania, the legendary video game magazine that began selling in 1985, has come to the end of its long journey. Via Twitter, Micromanía announces the saddest news (though not unexpected, as they themselves admit): the January issue is the last.
He Micromania number 355which is currently on sale in GAME stores, is the latest game from this legendary video game magazine.
“The entire team that has brought Micromanía to market over all these years is very proud of our work.“, they say in their latest thread, thanking all the loyal readers who made this feat possible: being the oldest video game magazine in the world.
Additionally, while the role is no longer an option, they say the team is looking for ways to keep its spirit alive. new formats.
“Without a doubt, Micromanía cherishes the entire history of video games in our country over the past 40 years, and we, for our part, will do everything possible to ensure that it does not sink into oblivion.“
Paper crisis puts an end to Spain’s oldest video game magazine
At Hobby Consolas, we can’t stop talking about whether digital is killing the physical format, whether subscriptions will change the way we buy video games… and there’s always collateral damage with these technological changes.
paper magazinesand especially those who specialize in such a modern world as video games, have lost some of the weight they had a few years ago, for more than obvious reasons. paper crisiswith production prices and distribution costs skyrocketing, that doesn’t help either.
Micromanía knew this, and in recent months it began to be sold only through GAME stores in order to reduce distribution costs and in smaller quantities, abandoning kiosks.
Micromanía was born in 1985 with a starting price of 250 pesetas in order to satisfy the huge demand that existed in Spain for video games for 8-bit computers such as ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, MSXfrom which emerged a very important production of Spanish video games, one of the largest in Europe.
The most technical aspects of these computers were discussed. MicroHobby (first published in 1984) and Micromanía was dedicated to games. For this reason, it developed after the fall of 8-bit systems and arrived before 2024with a cover dedicated to the games of today and tomorrow, such as Tekken 8, Star Wars Outlaws or STALKER 2.
Both were part HobbyPresswhere he was also born Hobby Consoles in 1991. We parted ways in 2012 when Axel Springer sold Micromanía to another publisher, BlueOcean Publishing, where it remains today. We wish all the best to the team Micromaniaand hopefully this is the beginning of the “fourth stage”.