[Update] The deal has been confirmed but we don’t yet know if EGM is dead

Earlier today it was announced that 1UP had been sold to Hearst along with the EGM magazine… however Hearst don’t want EGM and have instantly shut it down.

Well that story was pulled nearly instantaneously but the damage has been done and since this rumour was posted a while back we can only believe that this is true and just hasn’t been officially announced yet.

The original text that was posted is

“Looking to conserve its resources for its PC Mag Digital business, Ziff Davis Media has sold off the 1UP Digital Network, its collection of video game sites, to Hearst Corp., which will fold it into the UGO Entertainment division, the companies said. In conjunction with the sale, the related print mag Electronic Gaming Monthly will publish its last issue this month. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Since finishing up its Chapter 11 proceedings last summer, Ziff Davis has sought to devote more energy to building up the PC Mag online network. Before this, Ziff Davis’ biggest step in the streamlining process involved the shuttering of PC Mag as a print product in November. As for Hearst’s UGO, the addition of 1UP’s sites is designed to further consolidate its efforts to build up content for gamers since Hearst bought the 11-year-old male-centric entertainment company in July 2007.”

It’s quite sad to see one of the industry mainstays being shut down but during these tough times it isn’t really a great surprise. What surprises me is that 1UP is selling itself seeing that it really is doing pretty well. Maybe they should have just shut down EGM themselves and carried on making the big bucks.

Source: Joystiq