Editing GamePro (section)

== History and establishment ==
''Gamepro'' was first established in late 1988 by Patrick Ferrell, his sister-in-law Leeanne McDermott, and the husband-wife design team of Michael and Lynne Kavish. They worked out of their houses throughout the [[San Francisco Bay Area]] before leasing their first office in [[Redwood City]], [[California]] at the end of 1989.<ref>{{cite magazine|date=January 1997|title=100 Issues... Over 200 Writers!|url=https://archive.org/details/GamePro_Issue_100_Volume_09_Number_01_1997-01_IDG_Publishing_US/page/n39/mode/2up|magazine=GamePro|publisher=[[International Data Group|IDG]]|issue=100|pages=38–39}}</ref> Lacking the cashflow to be able to sustain growth after publishing the first issue, the founding management team sought a major publisher and in 1989 found one with IDG Peterborough, a New Hampshire-based division of the global giant IDG. Led by a merger and acquisition team comprising IDG Peterborough President Roger Murphy and two other <ref>[http://www.industrygamers.com/news/gamepro-is-closed IDG]{{dead link|date=September 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> executives, Jim McBrian and Roger Strukhoff, the magazine was acquired, then a few months later spun off as an independent business unit of IDG, under the leadership of Ferrell as president/CEO. The later addition of John Rousseau as publisher and editor-in-chief Wes Nihei, as well as renowned artist Francis Mao, established ''Gamepro'' as a large, profitable worldwide publication.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2002_Sept_23/ai_91910470/|title=Industry Leading Video Gaming Magazine Delivers Authoritative Gaming Editorial To Over 3 Million Male Teens Each Month|date=September 23, 2002|work=[[Business Wire]]|access-date=2002-09-23|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100327192623/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2002_Sept_23/ai_91910470/|archive-date=March 27, 2010}}</ref> Francis Mao, acting in his role as art director for the nascent GamePro, contracted game illustrator Marc Ericksen to create the premiere cover for the first edition of the magazine. Ericksen would go on to produce five of the first ten covers for GamePro, eventually creating eight in total, and would continue a secondary role creating a number of the double page spreads for the very popular monthly Pro Tips section. The magazine had a monthly circulation of 300,000.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/117575481/the-boston-globe/|title=Magazine aimed at video game users|newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]]|page=56|date=January 1, 1990|accessdate=January 30, 2023|via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>

[[File:Gamepro april 1989 premiere issue.png|thumb|left|First issue (April 1989)]]

Over the years, the Gamepro offices have moved from [[Redwood City]] (1989–1991) to [[San Mateo, California|San Mateo]] (1991–1998) to [[San Francisco]] (1998–2002) and lastly [[Oakland, California|Oakland]]. In 1993, the company was renamed from Gamepro Inc. to Infotainment World in reflection of its growing and diverse publication lines.

The magazine was known for its editors using [[comic book]]-like [[Avatar (computing)|avatars]] and monikers when reviewing games. As of January 2004, however, ''Gamepro'' ceased to use the avatars due to a change in the overall design and layout of the magazine. Meanwhile, editorial voices carried over to the community on its online sister publication, www.gamepro.com.

There was a [[television program|TV show]] called ''[[GamePro TV]]''. The show was hosted by [[J. D. Roth]] and Brennan Howard. The show was nationally syndicated for one year, then moved to cable (USA and Sci-Fi) for a second year.

In 1993, Patrick Ferrell sent Debra Vernon, VP of marketing, to a meeting between the games industry and the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Realizing an opportunity, the team at the now-entitled Infotainment World launched E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo. The industry backed E3 and Ferrell partnered with the IDSA to produce the event. It was one of the biggest trade show launches in history.

Early in its lifespan, the magazine also included comic book pages about the adventures of a superhero named Gamepro who was a video game player from the real world brought into a dimension where video games were real to save it from creatures called the Evil Darklings. In 2003, Joyride Studios produced limited-edition action figures of some of the ''Gamepro'' editorial characters.

''Gamepro'' also appeared in several international editions, including France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Turkey, Australia, Brazil and Greece. Some of these publications share the North American content, while some others share only the name and logo but do feature different content.

Early in 2006, IDG Entertainment began to change internally and shift operational focus from a "Print to Online" to "Online to Print" publishing mentality. The first steps; build a large online network of web sites and rebuild the editorial team. Enter: George Jones, industry veteran.

In February 2006, ''Gamepro''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s online video channel, Games.net, launched a series of video-game related shows. The extensive online programming is geared towards an older and more mature audience.

In August 2006, the Gamepro online team spun off a new cheats site, GamerHelp.com. It was shortly followed by a video game information aggregation site, Games.net, and a dedicated gaming downloads site, GameDownloads.com.

Under the new leadership of George Jones, ''Gamepro'' magazine underwent a massive overhaul in the March 2007 issue. While losing some of the more dated elements of the magazine, the new arrangement focused on five main insertions: HD game images, more reviews and previews per issue, www.gamepro.com community showcase, user contributions and insider news. However the German Gamepro website is still run, however this time, by "[[GameStar]]" as their partner, as that website have a message at the top of the screen saying "Partner of GameStar" (Note: This is written in German)

In 2009, Gamepro's 20th anniversary coincided with 20-year industry veteran John Davison joining the newly named Gamepro Media team in October 2009 as executive vice president of content.<ref name="gpmedia2">{{cite news|url=http://www.gamepromedia.com/press-releases/view/170|title=Leading Game Media Executive Tapped for Top Editorial Slot at IDG's Gamepro Media|date=October 6, 2009|work=Gamepromedia.com|access-date=2009-10-06|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110103233427/http://www.gamepromedia.com/press-releases/view/170|archive-date=2011-01-03}}</ref> Under Davison's direction, the magazine and website were redesigned in early 2010 with an editorial shift toward focusing on the people and culture of gaming. The redesigned magazine and website were met with an enthusiastic audience response.<ref name="gpmedia"/>

In addition to announcing the hire of Davison in October 2009, the company also announced an "aggressive growth plan throughout 2009 and beyond, with numerous online media initiatives to deepen consumer engagement and create new opportunities for advertisers."  Plans included partnering with sister company IDG TechNetwork to build a "boutique online network of sites."<ref name="gpmedia2"/> The result was the introduction of the Gamepro Media Network.

In September 2010, Gamepro Media announced a new alliance with online magazine ''The Escapist'' offering marketers joint advertising programs for reaching an unduplicated male audience.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.gamepromedia.com/press-releases/view/221|title=GamePro and The Escapist Alliance Changes How Marketers Reach Male Gamers|date=September 8, 2010|work=Gamepromedia.com|access-date=2010-09-07|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717142504/http://www.gamepromedia.com/press-releases/view/221|archive-date=2011-07-17}}</ref> The partnership was named the Gamepro Escapist Media Group.

In November 2010, [[Julian Rignall]] joined Gamepro Media as its new vice-president of content, replacing John Davison, who resigned in September 2010.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.gamepromedia.com/press-releases/view/241|title=IDG Gamepro Media Appoints Seasoned Publishing Executive to Vice President, Content|date=November 8, 2010|work=Gamepromedia.com|access-date=2010-11-08|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110103233836/http://www.gamepromedia.com/press-releases/view/241|archive-date=2011-01-03}}</ref>

''Gamepro'' ended monthly publication after over 22 years with its October 2011 issue. Shortly after that issue, the magazine changed to ''Gamepro Quarterly'', which was a quarterly publication using higher quality paper stock as well as being larger and thicker than all of the previous standard magazine issues. ''Gamepro Quarterly'' hit newsstands within the first half of November 2011.<ref>Editor's Letter, Gamepro Issue #267 (erroneously labeled 277 on the cover) October 2011</ref> The quarterly endeavor lasted for only one issue before being scrapped. On November 30, it was announced that ''Gamepro'' as a magazine and a website would be shutting down on December 5, 2011. ''Gamepro'' then became part of the [[PC World]] website as a small section of the site covering the latest video games, run by the PC World staff.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.industrygamers.com/news/gamepro-is-closed/ | title= Gamepro is Closed}}{{dead link|date=November 2016}}</ref>