The skies above our hobby are gray today as Game Informer, one of the venerable gaming publications, is shutting down. This morning, GameStop abruptly shut down Game Informer magazine and website, firing its entire staff once production on the next issue was "about 70% complete," according to content director Kyle Hilliard.

Game Informer X's official account shared a farewell message titled "Final Level":

The sudden closure comes after a turbulent time for the Minneapolis-based magazine. Facing pressure from a financially troubled GameStop, Game Informer had already made multiple layoffs and reduced the size of its dealerships since 2018; in March 2024, Game Informer was cut off from GameStop's rewards program, which was now $19.91 per year. It launched a new $91 subscription. Prior to today's developments, the GI staff seemed quite content.

It is unclear if GameStop plans to refund existing subscriptions, but it does not bode well that the entire Game Informer website has already disappeared. The site now directs users to the same closure statement as above.

Game Informer was first published in 1991. It was a time when gaming was smaller and it was much more difficult to keep track of everything that was happening in the hobby. For millions of people, the monthly edition of Game Informer was a promised read, not only for the major exclusives on newly announced games that the magazine reliably delivered, but also for the breadth of games covered in a single issue.

If you were a child of the 2000s like me, chances are you don't quite understand how Game Informer came into your possession. After my father became a GameStop member, the magazine started coming in the mail. As an elementary school student, I kept a thick pile of Game Informer in my desk and read it at every opportunity. I didn't have the attention span to read most of the articles, but I could spend hours marveling at the screenshots, page designs, and sharply written captions.

That stack got heavier over the years, and I eventually got rid of a few of them in a move, but my favorite Game Informer issues still occupy a corner of my bookshelf. 2007's Borderlands I still have; Assassin's Creed, too, with its binding I remember reading Assassin'sCreed so many times that the binding was falling apart. I always took time to read the letters from readers and the fan art pages. Even though I was too young to remember the names, I think I liked the way it highlighted the personalities of the GI staff, and Game Informer showed me that writing about games could be a career. Not anymore.

But the legacy of Game Informer lives on. MinnMax, an independent outlet founded by former Game Informer staffers who were involved in layoffs, is organizing the Game Informer Archive Project on Discord to preserve the magazine's decades of work.