Official Xbox Magazine has closed its doors for good amid restructuring at its parent company Future. OXM first arrived in 2001 alongside the launch of the original Xbox and has served as a landing spot for Xbox gamers to stay up to date on the latest games and news about all things Xbox.
The closure came last week, but it's only now been made public. The magazine is one of six under the Future publishing banner to have been shuttered in the last few days. The Bath, England-based Future is also the parent company for outlets such as PC Gamer, GamesRadar, and many more.
Last week, editors at all Future publications were instructed to inform freelancers that the freelance budget had been axed completely amid the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak. Ad rates have dropped considerably in some places, and so many online media outlets are tightening their budgets, leaving countless people without work. Future's own executives have been made to take paycuts, according to Eurogamer, to avoid redundancies.
As for OXM, its full-time staff has all been let go, though its sibling publication, Official PlayStation Magazine, is still afloat. The move comes in the year when a new Xbox console is on the way and would've likely increased readership, but sadly the magazine couldn't make it to the fall when the Series X hits stores, assuming it too isn't affected by the virus outbreak with a delay.
OpenCritic is sorry to hear about the layoffs and wishes everyone affected by the closure the best of luck in finding new landing spots.
