Games magazine house Rapide Publishing has crashed into
receivership and its titles have been sold off.
Rapide, which was based in Exeter, was known for its bullish attempts to
muscle into the lucrative Sony PlayStation magazines market dominated by
Future and Emap. But ten days ago, receivers Francis Clark were called
in.
The publisher’s biggest selling magazine, Station, which recorded an ABC
of 81,236 for the first half of 1999, carried a CD on the front of every
issue. This was a bold marketing tactic, but rivals had warned it ’could
prove too costly’ given that the estimated cost of cover-mounting a CD
on 80,000 magazines is in the region of pounds 100,000.
Little-known Dagenham-based publisher Yellow Man, run by former IDG and
Emap employee Hugh Gollner, has bought Station magazine, as well as
Ultimate PC and Total 64. Gollner said his plans for Station were ’more
modest’ than Rapide’s had been. ’I think they were trying to keep up
with the Official PlayStation Magazine, which has a circulation of
360,000. We won’t do that, we’ll just run a steady, solid editorial
ship.’
