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Repair common Windows errors and clear accumulated junk for a smoother, more stable PC - no reinstall needed.Free scan · no reinstallGame Informer’s digital magazine archive reaches back to issue 1, first published in 1991. You can read issues published before the magazine’s 2025 relaunch with a free Game Informer website account; access to new issues from 2025 onward is tied to a subscription. For a preservation-focused catalog and a separate digital library, consult the Video Game History Foundation (VGHF) finding aid.
Where to read Game Informer magazine issues
Game Informer’s publisher archive
Start at Game Informer’s website and create a free account to access the publisher’s historical digital archive. Game Informer announced on May 29, 2025 that it had expanded the archive back to issue 1, first published in 1991. Editor-in-Chief Matt Miller described the expansion as reaching “all Game Informer magazine issues,” though the publisher’s live access guidance distinguishes pre-relaunch issues from newer subscriber content. Game Informer’s archive announcement
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According to the publisher’s help page, issues published before the relaunch remain available to free website-account holders. New issues from 2025 onward are added to the digital archive for subscribers. The publisher’s subscription page lists archive access with both print-plus-digital and digital-only subscriptions. Check those pages for current terms, since access rules can change.
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Video Game History Foundation finding aid
The VGHF’s Game Informer Magazine Collection finding aid is a distinct preservation and cataloging resource, not the publisher’s account-based reading service. It describes a digital library containing most of the original 368 issues, links digital editions of new issues to Game Informer, and documents the Foundation’s physical holdings. The finding aid lists holdings for issues 1–381, as well as the special edition The Final Fantasy Companion and two editorial letters. The catalog’s holdings range and its description of the 368-issue original run refer to different things; the former should not be read as saying that the original run had 381 issues.
| Resource | Access and coverage | Materials and best use |
|---|---|---|
| Game Informer website archive | Free account for issues published before the 2025 relaunch; subscription for new issues from 2025 onward, according to the publisher’s current help and subscription pages. | Digital reading, including current magazine access for subscribers. Best starting point for reading issues online. |
| VGHF finding aid and collection | Catalog describes a digital library with most of the original 368 issues; it does not claim that every issue is digitized. | Digital library, physical collection, and catalog records. Best for tracing holdings and understanding the collection’s history. |
How the archive’s chronology fits together
The VGHF catalog dates Game Informer’s publication from Fall 1991. It describes the magazine as having begun as a promotional publication owned by FuncoLand, later reorganized as GameStop. The catalog records that publication stopped in August 2024, Gunzilla Games acquired and revived the magazine in March 2025, and new issues began printing in July 2025. These are historical catalog details; for current account and subscription access, rely on the publisher’s live help and subscription pages.
Publication frequency was not constant. The VGHF finding aid describes a shift from monthly issues to ten issues a year around spring 2022. Game Informer’s June 2025 subscription announcement also described a ten-issue annual plan for the revived magazine. The publisher’s announcement is the relevant source for the revived publication’s stated schedule; it does not make every earlier year a ten-issue year.
Why issue numbers and dates may not line up neatly
Use the VGHF finding aid when a catalog label looks unusual or a date does not fit a simple monthly sequence. Its notes say the first seven issues were unnumbered and that the catalog assigns numbers to them for identification. Numbering changed at issue 91 in November 2000, and the catalog flags an apparent volume-numbering error. It also records likely publication irregularities from December 2020 through 2021. These details help explain why issue labels and dates may not follow a single uninterrupted numbering pattern.
The publisher credits VGHF, Retromags, and fan scanner “bogusfrank” with helping locate and preserve material for the expanded archive. That collaborative history helps explain how publisher access and preservation cataloging complement each other, while remaining separate resources.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Can you buy old print issues, or do you need an app?
Game Informer says it does not currently offer print copies of past issues; its help page points readers to the free-account digital archive for issues published before the relaunch. The publisher’s current guidance describes website-account access and does not establish that a separate app is required. For new issues, see the publisher’s subscription page for the available digital and print-plus-digital options.
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