PC Games was founded in 1992 and included a 3½-in floppy disk, which was changed to a CD-ROM in 1995. By 1999 it became the leading computer gaming magazine in Germany at this time. From October 1992 to March 1998 the founders Oliver Menne and Thomas Borovskis were editors in chief. They were replaced by Thomas Borovskis from April 1998 to February 2000. From March 2000 to June 2001 the magazine was led by Florian Stangl and Petra Fröhlich. From March 2004 on Petra Fröhlich was the sole editor-in-chief. Petra Fröhlich left this post in December 2014 and was replaced by Wolfgang Fischer.
Content
The magazine has about 150 pages, and also usually includes a DVD with drivers, demos, mods and maps. The DVD also often includes a full retail version of a chosen game. The magazine contains the following content:
Hints, cheats, modifications and walkthroughs for released games
A magazine part with letters to the editors and other topics concerning the magazine and its editors itself
Versions
PC Games was released in several different versions:
A "magazine" version
A "normal" edition, with one DVD in a rated 16 or rated 18 edition
PC Games Extended with two DVDs
PC Games Premium with more content
PC Games MMORE which features content related to MMOGs and mostly World of Warcraft.
The PC Games staff publish a magazine called PC Games Hardware, which solely concentrates on the testing of gaming related Hardware devices.
Sales and popularity
The magazine is one of the best selling computer gaming magazines in Germany, after Computerbild Spiele and Gamestar. In the fourth quarter of 1999, PC Games sold 363,608 issues per month, making it the best sold PC gaming magazine in Germany at this time. However, from 2002 on the print market started to decline and PC Gamess sale figures decreased. By the fourth quarter of 2011 only 102,032 copies per month were sold. PC Games also hosts a gaming portal in the internet on PCGames.de, where they provide coverage and publish news, reviews and tests for computer games and computer gaming related topics. As of February 2016, PCGames.de has about 1.41 million unique visitors per month, making it one of the largest PC gaming web portals in the German language internet.
