Nintendo Power Closing Its Doors?

It looks like gaming magazine Nintendo Power could be gearing up to print its final issue. Reports and rumors are streaming in today that, if true, could spell the end of a nearly 25 year run in the print medium.

The initial announcement comes via Ars Technica, which is reporting a source working within Nintendo Power has stated that Future Publishing is planning to stop publishing the magazine and, following that, Nintendo executives have shown no interest in picking up the publishing duties themselves.

Nintendo Power first hit the market in 1988 and, between that time and 2007, was completely managed by Nintendo. Future Publishing took over content and distribution duties five years ago and, according to Ars Technica’s source, struggled to work with a “difficult” Nintendo that showed little interest in branching out into digital formats. The source states that Future Entertainment has opted not to renew its contract with Nintendo and, furthermore, Nintendo appears prepared to simply let the magazine die.

The next issue planned to hit newsstands and mailboxes is 282 and, if further information gathered via Twitter is to believed, that (Or issue 283) could be the final issue of the legendary magazine. Nintendo Power’s senior editor Chris Hoffman reportedly tweeted that it was “sad to see it go” and that the staff will “try to make the last issues memorable.” Those tweets, and others related to the matter by NP writer Phil Theobald, have since been deleted.

I, for one, remember eagerly picking up copies of Nintendo Power anytime my family was at the grocery store and my mom would let me add the magazine to the shopping cart. I even had a subscription for a while and, honestly, seeing NP go feels like a small piece of my childhood is dying. Given how long the magazine has been a success, I imagine I’m not alone in those sentiments.

We’ll keep you updated as soon as Future Entertainment or Nintendo make a proper announcement regarding the matter. For now, we can all just file this one under “extremely likely rumor.”