Five staff at specialist games magazine publisher Paragon are to lose their jobs as the business is streamlined to focus on new launches.
Two jobs in business development, one in new media and another on PC Basics magazine are to go. Although staff will be offered jobs on existing titles and new launches, it is unclear whether they will all remain with the company.
Related
Damian Butt, editorial director at Paragon, said: "We are not trying to cut costs, we are just trying to make sure the company is as lean as possible for when we do new launches." Paragon is planning to launch eight new titles before the end of the year -four monthly and the rest bi-monthly or quarterly. Butt said some of the new launches could replace existing titles which have run their course such as the Nintendo games title N64. The magazine’s sales fell 40.3 per cent in the last ABCs.
"We may close magazines over the next few months but only because they have come to the end of their life. There is no point in keeping N64 running," Butt told Press Gazette.
Despite the removal of some roles, he said Paragon was in the process of recruiting staff for the launches, including editors, deputy editors, subs and writers.
Content from our partners
The company had suffered from a downturn in the market he said, but stressed it was not in the same position as its rival Future.
"It has been pretty horrific for everyone. We have been hurt but it hasn’t hurt us as much as some of the larger companies. We think we have seen the worst of it and we are now starting to see the up side. If you don’t have new launches, you are not going to move forward."
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog
