![]() | |
Company type | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Industry | Publishing |
Predecessor |
|
Founded | 1994; 31 years ago (1994) |
Headquarters | , US |
Key people |
|
Parent | Future plc |
Future US, Inc. (formerly known asImagine Media andThe Future Network USA) is an Americanmediacorporation specializing intargetedmagazines andwebsites in thevideo games,music, andtechnologymarkets. Headquartered inNew York City, the corporation has offices in:Alexandria,Virginia;Minneapolis,Minnesota; andWashington, D.C.[2] Future US is owned by parent company,Future plc, a specialist media company based inBath,Somerset, England.
The company was established whenFuture plc acquired strugglingGreensboro (N.C.) video game magazine publisher GP Publications, publisher ofGame Players magazine, in 1994.[3]
The company launched a number of titles includingPC Gamer, and relocated from North Carolina to theSan Francisco Bay Area, occupying various properties inBurlingame andSouth San Francisco. WhenChris Anderson, the founder of Future plc, sold Future toPearson plc he retained GP, renamed Imagine Media, Inc. in June 1995, and operated it as his sole company for a few years.[4]
Buoyed by the Internet economy and the success ofBusiness 2.0 in the US (and subsequently in the UK, France, Italy and Germany), Future rode the boom of the late nineties. During this period the company won the exclusive worldwide rights to produce the official magazine forMicrosoft'sXboxvideo game console and cemented its position as a leader in the games market. In the spring of 2001, buffeted by economic factors and the market downturn, Future Network USA went through a strategic reset of its business that included the closure of some titles and Internet operations and the sale ofBusiness 2.0 toAOL/Time Warner.[5]
On September 19, 2007,Nintendo andFuture announced thatFuture US would obtain the publishing rights toNintendo Power magazine. This came into effect with the creation of issue #222 (December 2007).[6]
On October 1, 2007, it was announced thatFuture US would be makingPlayStation: The Official Magazine, which ended up replacingPSM and first hit newsstands in November 2007. With this launch, Future US became the publisher of the official magazines of all three major console manufacturers in the US.PlayStation: The Official Magazine closed in 2012.[7]
In 2012,NewBay Media bought the Music division of Future US.[8]
In 2018, Future reacquired majority of the assets previously sold to NewBay by buying NewBay outright forUS$13.8 million.[9] Future used this acquisition to expand its US footprint, particularly inB2B segment.[10][11]
In May 2021, Future US acquired the rights toMarie Claire fromHearst Communications.[12] Parent company Future plc already owned the rights toMarie Claire in the UK after its acquisition ofTI Media in 2020.
In August 2024, Future US announced it would be closingBroadcasting & Cable andMultichannel News on September 30, 2024.[13]
Its magazines and websites include: