We all love to play games, but the unfortunate truth is that at some point every game must come to an end, whether it's because you got crushed by a rolling rock, threw your controller on the ground in frustration, or simply got credits. That moment has also arrived for PLAY.
PLAY #46 will be on sale October 15And with subscribers right before!
So close to number 50! However, anyone who remembers our rebranding of Official PlayStation Magazine to PLAY in 2021, from official to unofficial, will know that the legacy goes back much further than those issues.
Future Publishing's history in creating PlayStation magazines began with the launch of PlayStation itself, and Official PlayStation Magazine started it all in 1995. With demo discs galore, it was simply a must-buy for any PS1 owner, highlighting heavy hitters like Resident Evil, Metal Gear Solid and Silent Hill alongside gems like PaRappa The Rapper, with stunning custom renders, sketches and comic-style artwork.
Meanwhile, rival publisher Paragon Publishing (later bought by Highbury, which eventually sold its game titles to Imagine Publishing) had its own unofficial PlayStation magazine: Play. A stalwart title in its own right, it covered PS1 from 1995 until its last issue, issue #297, in the PS4 generation, after going digital-only in 2016. But in that time they went from friendly enemies to friendly friends. , Play joins the Future portfolio during its final years.
That original incarnation of the official PlayStation magazine ran until 2004 and focused solely on PS1, a true single-format magazine. The official PlayStation 2 magazine was launched in 2000 and the two magazines' publications overlapped for several years. With a modern design to match the sleek, futuristic style of the PS2, OPS2 would become known for its unique deep dives and thick DVD box-style demo discs and trailers.
Closing the gap was PSM2, Future's unofficial PlayStation magazine, which launched a little before OPS2. The lack of a license gave him an anarchic touch, and he took advantage of it to follow different stories from his brother. Back then, many games would come out in Japan long before English releases, and import coverage was vital to PSM2's identity.
A similar relationship followed the launch of the PlayStation 3, and PSM2 became PSM3, a PS3 magazine, in 2006, but retaining its numbering. OPS2 lasted until 2008, although, as with the previous generation jump, it crossed over with the official PS3 magazine, renamed the more generation-agnostic PlayStation: The Official Magazine (technically abbreviated to POM, although for many the nickname OPM remained).
Higher resolution artwork was becoming standard, which meant the chunky OPS2 poster was swapped for a sleeker one, leaving room on the cover for huge, striking images. The new name meant that this magazine numbering was maintained until 2021 and OPM #187.
And then there was PLAY! Many people who worked on PLAY also worked on PSM, such as PSM2 and PSM3. But did you know that the connection runs even deeper? For the 2021 rebrand, the plan was to take over PSM, before a last-minute pivot was necessary.
As a result, internally our product codes are still labeled as PSM. (A peek behind the curtain: Inside the magazine, the file name of the farewell article is PSM46.feat_thanks.indd.) In effect, this means that every issue of PLAY has also been secretly moonlighted as PSM. That's why I've always considered this version of the magazine to be a combination of the legacies of the official PlayStation magazine, PSM and Play.
With the rebranding, many people assumed that our workflow changed as well. As I have always told you: it really wasn't like that! Our relationship with Sony has remained largely the same from an editorial standpoint as it has since my time at OPM.
Continuing OPM's late redesign, we've tried to be more adept at embracing the highest resolution visuals available, but all while writing about games with all the passion, energy, and silliness we could muster.
It is a legacy that I believe will continue: everyone who has read one of these magazines carries an article with them. Sentimental? Well, we wouldn't be gamers if we didn't believe in extra lives!
It wouldn't have been PLAY without the teams that produced PlayStation magazines from the '90s to the present, shaping the text, creating beautiful covers, and distilling wild gaming marathons into readable sentences; the fantastic writers who have contributed their unique perspectives; and the readers who continued turning the page.
It is necessary to give special recognition to the final members of the team. Jessica Kinghorn, Miriam McDonald, and Milford Coppock have made my years at OPM and PLAY a breeze. The quickest way to an editor's heart is to make them not have to worry too much, and with a team so experienced and with such a deep understanding of the medium, I've had the pleasure of worrying about very little other than paving the way past. A path that, unfortunately, now comes to an end.
The final issue includes some of the text you're reading now, plus some additional insights from the rest of the team and those who've worked at OPM, PSM, and Play over the years (and some interesting tidbits and tidbits).
It's also a pleasure to have Metal Gear Solid on the cover of the latest issue. Talk about a snake eating its own tail! It's the kind of farewell to the legacy we couldn't have wished for better.
Plus: Featuring interviews with the developers of the latest Western-developed Silent Hill games, a chat with Baldur's Gate 3's Andrew Wincott about bringing Raphael to evil life, and developer access to indie low-poly horror developers, There is a chilling element to this. last issue of October. Many of you asked for a Halloween issue over the years, so here it is! My last gift to you.
For current subscribers, the subscriptions team will be in touch about next steps.
We hope you enjoy reading this landmark issue. It's been wonderful, really. For now, I say goodbye. Enjoy playing the next one!