Media company Ziff Davis today announced a partnership with Microsoft to collaborate on content for Microsoft’s Games for Windows initiative. Through the agreement, Ziff Davis will provide editorial content for a magazine titled “Games for Windows: The Official Magazine” along with web content hosted at 1up.com. Ziff Davis will be moving the editorial staff from Computer Gaming World to the new magazine, and will be effectively killing the Computer Gaming World periodical. This move retires one of the longest running computer and video game related publication; Computer Gaming World has been around for more than two decades. Former Computer Gaming World editor, and now editor of the new magazine Jeff Green stated that the agreement with Microsoft bars the company from interfering with editorial content. Still, the new magazine will probably have to prove their allegiance to gamers before the gaming public accepts this change. In the short term, the new magazine should be a guaranteed source for exclusive content from Microsoft and a platform to evangelize Windows gaming, but this may come at the cost of credibility in the long term.

The full press release follows below.

Ziff Davis Announces Online and Print Media Alliance with Microsoft
             
  SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 2 /PRNewswire/—Ziff Davis, the prominent gaming
magazine and online publisher, today announced an integrated media
collaboration with Microsoft. Ziff Davis will serve as the independent
editorial voice for Microsoft’s Games for Windows initiative. As part of
the strategic relationship, Ziff Davis is launching a new magazine called
Games for Windows: The Official Magazine and a companion website on the 1UP
Network. Microsoft will drive traffic and readership to the magazine and to
the 1UP Network, and will promote the Games for Windows magazine as part of
their Games for Windows marketing efforts. The magazine and integrated
online components will launch in Fall 2006.
  Ziff Davis’ online integration will include a Games for Windows website
on the 1UP network. The website will host editorial features, social
networking, and blogs, as well as game demos, patches, downloads, trailers
and original video content from FileFront.com and GameVideos.com. In
addition, Ziff Davis will collaborate with Microsoft in the area of online
and interactive content for Games for Windows. Microsoft’s website,
GamesForWindows.com, will also link to the 1UP Network for users who want
additional content.
  “We believe Ziff Davis Game Group is the ideal industry partner for
Microsoft as we advance the Windows platform and Games for Windows
initiative,” said Rich Wickham, director of Games for Windows at Microsoft.
“We value Ziff Davis’ innovation in integrating diverse media together and
wanted that creative force driving the official Games for Windows magazine
and website on the 1UP Network.”
  The collaboration with Ziff Davis Game Group represents a significant
step in Microsoft’s larger marketing push for the Games for Windows brand:
the magazine shares the same “Games for Windows” branding that will appear
on game packaging and in leading retailers throughout the U.S. beginning
this Fall.
  “We share Microsoft’s passion for expanding the Windows gaming market,”
said Scott McCarthy, President of Ziff Davis Game Group. “This alliance
will enable us to reach a wider audience than ever before, both in print
and online, and it affirms Microsoft’s commitment to gaming on the Windows
platform. We’re looking forward to working with Microsoft.”
  To ensure clear market leadership position, Ziff Davis will transfer
Computer Gaming World’s veteran editorial staff and mission to Games for
Windows: The Official Magazine. The new magazine and web initiative will
carry on the editorial, production and art staff of Computer Gaming World,
incorporating CGW’s best-of-class style and tone while broadening the
outlet’s reach, influence and editorial content to complement the coming
renaissance in Windows gaming.
  About Ziff Davis Game Group
  Ziff Davis Game Group (gamegroup.ziffdavis.com), a division of Ziff
Davis Media Inc., is the largest integrated gaming media publisher in the
United States, reaching over 17 million gamers in print and 11 million
gamers online. The Game Group publishes magazines including Electronic
Gaming Monthly, Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine, and Computer Gaming
World, as well as the 1UP Network of web properties, including social
networking and editorial hub 1UP.com, file download destination
FileFront.com, video site GameVideos.com, news and reviews aggregator
GameTab.com, and video podcast The 1UP Show.
  About Ziff Davis Media Inc.
  Ziff Davis Media Inc. (http://www.ziffdavis.com) is a leading integrated media
company serving the technology and videogame markets. Ziff Davis reaches
over 28 million people a month through its portfolio of 32 websites, 7
award- winning magazines, and hundreds of consumer and b-to-b events, as
well as business IT tools, custom publishing, and direct marketing
services. The company is headquartered in New York and also has offices and
labs in San Francisco and Boston. The Company exports its brands
internationally in 40 countries and 20 languages.