Ziff Davis axes Playstation Magazine

San Francisco (CA) - In an announcement that came just three days before the widely anticipated PS3 release, Ziff Davis today said that the official US PlayStation Magazine, one of its properties, will shut down publication, tagging the January 2007 issue as the final one.

According to a press release, Ziff Davis is further expanding on digital media, as it begins to stray away from print publications. Accordingly, said Ziff Davis, the magazine "no longer fits its strategic vision."

Of course, it can’t be overlooked that this move comes right as Sony’s PlayStation franchise is receiving a huge new buzz, with the November 17 PS3 debut just days away. Thus, Ziff Davis Game Group President, talked about the correlation at length.

"It’s a new world. The powerful online capabilities of the exciting PlayStation 3, coupled with ever-increasing broadband penetration in the U.S., allow for much more efficient distribution of game demos, videos, and trailers," he said. In other words, PS3 owners will have so much access to the latest PS3 content that third-party coverage of it will be obsolete. At least, that’s the rationale Ziff Davis is providing.

This news also comes as Ziff Davis is showing some difficulty in its Game Group division, with that area accounting for substantial financial losses in the company. When Ziff Davis posted its third quarter results earlier this month, the publishing giant said that part of the declining trends is due to the migration to online and other digital forms of media.

Some of Ziff Davis’ more well-known publications include PC Magazine, Electronic Gaming Monthly and Computer Gaming World.