The magazine that I am analyzing is Game Informer Magazine,the December 2019

issue. It is the biggest video game magazine in the industry. The audience for this magazine is

anyone that has an interest in video games. The magazine has no bias to one company in the

industry, so every issue will have something that a video game fan can be interested in.

Before opening the magazine the cover art is important to look at. Each issue has a

specific game or company that has a large article written about it. This issue digs deeper into

the gaming company “Blizzard”. The 40 page article is promoted on the front of the magazine

because the month before the article was released, Blizzard had its annual “Blizzcon” where

they announce upcoming games. The cover art features a character from the game

“Overwatch”.

The first two pages of the magazine that are not advertisements feature the table of

content and the editor’s letter. This particular issue actually shows off other covers that were

sent out to subscribers this month. There are four games that are highlighted in the Blizzard

article, so each game was given its own cover art, I just happen to have the Overwatch cover.

The table of contents has the pages that talk about the biggest games more noticeable with

pictures and some text below to describe the article. Some are previews for future games, some

are reviews for games that have come out recently, and some just refer to things that have been

going on within the gaming industry recently.

Letters to the editor focus on games that have been discussed in past issues, with some

questions of those letters being questions a reader has that the article didn’t go in depth enough

on, or simply praising the article and saying that it was a big reason as to why the reader

decided to buy the game. Each issue also has a “Question of the Month” that readers send in

answers to, as well as a section for art that fans can send in and have featured. Game Informer

has multiple outlets that can let readers get involved.

Advertisements are very limited throughout the magazine. You can count the amount of

advertisements on one hand. The reason for this is because the majority of Game Informer
subscribers get the magazine because they have what is called a Pro Membership at the store

GameStop. While there are a few advertisements, the publishing company doesn’t want to fill

pages with advertisements for a magazine that is considered an incentive for paying for a pro

membership. The few advertisements in there are for Gamestop, so it is just the store

advertising itself in the magazine they publish.

“Redefining What A Sequel Can Be” is the featured article I chose to dig into. The article

is about the game “Overwatch 2” the upcoming sequel to the highly successful game

“Overwatch”. The article begins with an anecdotal lead. “No player left behind. Everybody wins.

This type of messaging is hammered home numerous times by the Overwatch development

team during my two day visit to Blizzard Entertainment’s studio.” The journalist does go straight

into describing what exactly the development team is doing to make this sequel stand out, but

instead mentions the philosophy that the developers were basing the game off of. The

development team uses this because, as stated in the article, many big time video game

sequels come out and players of the previous iteration are forgotten about. They force players

to buy the new games to continue receiving updates.

This comparison leads to what the nut graf says. “Breaking away from the walled-garden

approach to sequels, all of Overwatch 2’s new PvP(Player vs Player) content will be playable in

Overwatch, free of charge to people who own the first game.” This is an innovative approach to

how companies go about creating their sequels that the journalist says “could send a

shockwave through the video game industry.” The entire article delves deeper into this idea and

the journalist describes what exactly the developers are putting into the sequel that will

differentiate it from the first game.

While the article is about a game that will be released in the future, not much future

tense is used in the article at all. The majority of the article uses the past and present tense to

describe things that have already been put in the game and things the developers are currently

putting in it. “We can assume that Echo will be one of these new recruits,but for the time being,
Blizzard doesn’t want to give away her role yet.” Since the game won’t be released for awhile it

makes sense as to why future tense isn’t used. Developers want to keep things a secret until

the game is officially launched. They have a set amount of things they are willing to reveal that

have already been put in the demo version of the game that the journalist got to play.

The ending of the article gives fans of the original game an optimistic hope about the

sequel. “From the small taste of Overwatch 2 that I experienced, it feels like a natural and

seamless extension of the great core that made the original game a runaway success, giving

players more of what they love in new and familiar ways.” Players read this and leave the article

with excitement for the upcoming sequel to Overwatch. People act like they like change, but

when change happens people will begin to complain. The journalist knows that video game fans

are guilty of that mindset, so he eases their thoughts showing that the game is like they

remember, but with more ways to have fun.