Editing GamesMaster (section)

==Demise==
Prior to ''GamesMaster'' leaving UK television, there had been a crisis of confidence in games television over at rival channel ITV. Their children's department had commissioned another video games programme ''T.I.G.S.'' to accompany ''[[Bad Influence!]]''. Then, one series later, they pulled the plug on both programmes, deciding that there was no demand for games coverage on their channel.

''GamesMaster'' was not affected and continued with success. In 1998, towards the end of production for the 7th series, the programme was looking set to be re-commissioned; viewing figures were still strong, and the programme was finding a new audience, benefiting from the emerging PlayStation culture with the success of [[Sony]]'s console bringing gaming into the mainstream. The production was also more oriented towards actual games players than the first few series, which had been decidedly light in feature content, and no longer poked fun at 'nerds' and 'geeks', as it was young adults and not children and teenagers who appeared on the programme; indeed, they and the publicity-seeking celebrities were now the subject of jokes.

It is believed that Dominik Diamond, along with the programme's producers, wanted to make a more adult programme that would air in a late night, more mainstream time slot. (Series 8 was going to be set on a pirate ship with buxom wenches as the Golden Joystick assistants.) There was also talk of a spin-off programme being made that would seek to emulate the US talk shows of the time. Whether this would have meant a programme that focused far less on games is unknown. No confirmation exists that any pilots of this concept were ever made; Channel 4 did not see the potential of a gaming programme for an older, adult audience.

However, changes in senior staff at Channel 4 were responsible for taking the programme off the air. The new head of Channel 4 was [[Michael Jackson (TV executive)|Michael Jackson]] who had worked at LWT at the same time as Jane Hewland; the two never saw eye-to-eye. Alternatively, having been the head of [[BBC Two]], Jackson may have wanted less entertainment programming on Channel 4.

The first series of the programme was repeated on [[Challenge (TV channel)|Challenge]] in 2003, but no further episodes have been shown. Challenge thought the programme was "too dated" and "the games being played wouldn't stand up today".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.challenge.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?s=06b0491a864d4d346a5bc548cb0500f4&threadid=9175|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928120153/http://www.challenge.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?s=06b0491a864d4d346a5bc548cb0500f4&threadid=9175|archive-date=2007-09-28 |title=Challenge Forums - GamesMaster |publisher=Challenge.co.uk |access-date=2009-07-21}}</ref>