Future US

Future US, Inc. (formerly known as Imagine Media and The Future Network USA) is an American media corporation specializing in targeted magazines and websites in the video games, music, and technology markets. Headquartered in New York City, the corporation has offices in: Alexandria, Virginia; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Washington, D.C.[1] Future US is owned by parent company, Future plc, a specialist media company based in Bath, Somerset, England.

For the United Kingdom-based parent company, see Future plc.

History

The company was established when Future plc acquired struggling Greensboro (N.C.) video game magazine publisher GP Publications, publisher of Game Players magazine, in 1994.[2]

The company launched a number of titles including PC Gamer, and relocated from North Carolina to the San Francisco Bay Area, occupying various properties in Burlingame and South San Francisco. When Chris Anderson, the founder of Future plc, sold Future to Pearson plc he retained GP, renamed Imagine Media, Inc. in June 1995, and operated it as his sole company for a few years.[3]

Buoyed by the Internet economy and the success of Business 2.0 in the US (and subsequently in the UK, France, Italy and Germany), Future rode the boom of the late nineties. During this period the company won the exclusive worldwide rights to produce the official magazine for Microsoft's Xbox video game console and cemented its position as a leader in the games market. In the spring of 2001, buffeted by economic factors and the market downturn, Future Network USA went through a strategic reset of its business that included the closure of some titles and Internet operations and the sale of Business 2.0 to AOL/Time Warner.[4]

On September 19, 2007, Nintendo and Future announced that Future US would obtain the publishing rights to Nintendo Power magazine. This came into effect with the creation of issue #222 (December 2007).[5]

On October 1, 2007, it was announced that Future US would be making PlayStation: The Official Magazine, which ended up replacing PSM and first hit newsstands in November 2007. With this launch, Future US became the publisher of the official magazines of all three major console manufacturers in the US. PlayStation: The Official Magazine closed in 2012.[6]

In 2012, NewBay Media bought the Music division of Future US.[7]

In 2018, Future reacquired majority of the assets previously sold to NewBay by buying NewBay outright for US$13.8 million .[8] Future used this acquisition to expand its US footprint, particularly in B2B segment.[9][10]

Magazines and websites

Current titles

Its magazines and websites include:

Defunct titles

References
  1. "Contact". www.futureplc.com. Bath, Somerset: Future plc. 2019. Archived from the original on October 12, 2019. Retrieved October 12, 2019.
  2. Cox, Howard; Mowatt, Simon (2014). Revolutions from Grub Street: A History of Magazine Publishing in Britain. Oxford University Press. p. 220. ISBN 978-0199601639.
  3. "About Imagine". Imagine Media. Archived from the original on October 12, 1999.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  4. "Timeline: a history of magazines". Magforum.com. Retrieved June 17, 2019.
  5. "Future officially takes over Nintendo Power". Nintendo Forums. October 12, 2007. Retrieved May 21, 2014.
  6. "PlayStation: The Official Magazine Is Shutting Down". Forbes. November 7, 2012. Retrieved June 17, 2019.
  7. "NewBay Media Buys Music Mags from Future US". Folio. January 13, 2012.
  8. "Future plc Acquires NewBay Media for $13.8m". Future. April 4, 2018.
  9. "PennWell Corp. and NewBay Media acquired by UK firms". Folio. Access Intelligence, LLC. April 4, 2018. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
  10. Butts, Tom. "Future Publishing acquires TV Technology parent NewBay Media". TV Technology. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
  11. "netPOWER". Retrieved February 26, 2013.
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