Official Nintendo Magazine - Australia and New Zealand

12/11/08 - Future Publishing Australia have today announced a new agreement with Nintendo Australia to launch Official Nintendo Magazine – Australia and New Zealand.

Official Nintendo Magazine – Australia and New Zealand builds upon the existing relationship between the two companies, a partnership which currently extends to both the US and the UK, where Future publishes the official titles in both strategically important markets.

Greg Arthurton, Director of Marketing, Nintendo Australia said:

“We are really excited about the new agreement. By establishing a partnership with Future Publishing Australia, we are able to extend the Nintendo brand into a new environment with a locally produced magazine on the newsstands. We will also benefit from the well established relationship which already exists between the companies in other territories, and we will integrate that into the way we work together here too. We definitely see the magazine as being an important part of our evolving communications strategy in this region, not least to ensure our customers can get the best out of their consoles with a complementary offering.”

As in other markets, Official Nintendo Magazine – Australia and New Zealand will reflect that the Nintendo proposition is evolving and changing. Whilst the console platforms continue to engage with a traditional fan base, Nintendo is also seeking to extend its reach by targeting non-traditional gamers too. The new audience are delivered a breadth of family-focussed and self-improvement software, whereas the die hard gamers are still served with favourites such as Mario, Zelda and Pokemon titles and innovative developments as well.

Nic Healey, Managing Editor, Future Australia said:

“Official Nintendo Magazine – Australia and New Zealand will be the definitive source of Nintendo news and features for both the traditional gamer, and the new audience of Nintendo fans too. We will be able to draw upon Future’s international content, and we will also be working with some of Australia’s leading games journalists to produce our own Australian focused content too. Our Official status gives us unlimited access to the newest Nintendo games and the people who make them, as well as the latest developments on the console platforms.”

Karl Penn, Managing Director, Future Publishing Australia, added:

"We are genuinely honoured to be given the opportunity to partner with Nintendo Australia, and to work with one of the world's iconic entertainment brands. At Future we base everything we do around clusters of like-minded individuals who are passionate about their interests. At this time of overwhelming choice on the newsstands, people want good quality, trusted editorial content more than ever before which is what Future does best. Certainly the unique Official status will ensure it’s further differentiated against other existing and imported Nintendo titles. Official Nintendo Magazine – Australia and New Zealand will be a magazine for this market, but it will also benefit from our pool of internationally created content and the resources we are able to draw upon.”

The first issue of Official Nintendo Magazine – Australia and New Zealand goes onsale in December 2008. The title will be published monthly with a cover price of $8.95. The magazine will be distributed nationally in both Australia and New Zealand, with the first issue packaged as a Special Edition.

ENDS

About Future

Future Publishing Australia is a division of Future Publishing Overseas Ltd, part of Future plc, the special-interest media group. Future and its magazine titles are well-established in Australia, with a presence dating back to 1995. Following a period in which Future titles were published under license in Australia and New Zealand, Future acquired the highly successful Sydney-based cycling website. cyclingnews.com in 2007, and opened the Future Publishing Australia office in April 2008.

Future plc is an international special-interest media group that is listed on the London Stock Exchange (symbol FUTR). Founded in 1985 with one magazine, today there are operations in the UK and US, creating over 180 special-interest publications, websites and events for people who are passionate about their interests. In addition, Future exports, syndicates or licenses its publications to 90 countries internationally.

About Nintendo

The worldwide pioneer in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its Wii™ and Nintendo DS™ systems. Since 1983, when it launched the Nintendo Entertainment System™, Nintendo has sold nearly 2.7 billion video games and more than 470 million hardware units globally, including the current-generation Wii and Nintendo DS, as well as the Game Boy™, Game Boy Advance, Super NES™, Nintendo 64™ and Nintendo GameCube™. It has also created industry icons that have become well-known, household names such as Mario™, Donkey Kong™, Metroid™, Zelda™ and Pokémon™. A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of Australia Inc., based in Victoria, serves as headquarters for Nintendo’s operations in Australia. For more information about Nintendo, visit the company’s Web site at www.nintendo.com.au

For more information:

Karl Penn, Managing Director, Future Australia, +61 2 9955 2677 or karl.penn@futurenet.com

or

Vicky Bacon, Head of Group Communications, Future Plc, +44 (0)20 7042 4033 or victoria.bacon@futurenet.co.uk