Future acquires games magazines in Italy and France

by Staff, Brand Republic 20-Sep-05, 11:00

LONDON - Future has made two acquisitions in Italy and France, spending £2.5m on four games magazines as it continues to expand its operations in Europe.

Future has acquired Italy's longest-running computer games title The Games Machine from Milan-based Xenia Edizioni Srl for £2.4m. The deal also includes smaller titles PC Action, PC Action Games, the recently launched Videogames and the website tgmonline.it.

The Italian titles, which turned over €4.5m (£3m) in the year to December 2004, and 10 staff will all move across to Future's office, also based in Milan.

In France, Future has acquired Consoles Plus magazine from Emap France for €0.2m including integration costs.

Future said the title fitted well with Future France's games magazine portfolio, which includes the titles acquired from Hachette in 2003.

Greg Ingham, chief executive of Future said: "These are good bolt-on acquisitions that build on our existing position in the games sector in Italy and France."

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