About N-Zone

N-Zone

N-Zone is Germany's Nintendo magazine — the monthly video-game journal specialized on Nintendo, published by Computec Media. First issued in June 1997 with the ISSN 1433-8424, it has served the German-speaking Nintendo community for nearly three decades: the magazine of the previews, tests, and hardware for the current Nintendo consoles. With a sold circulation of around 5,200 copies (publisher's statement), it reaches the Nintendo fans who play on the Switch and look back on the Game Boy, the GameCube, the Wii, and the DS: the magazine that has accompanied every Nintendo generation since the Nintendo 64 era. The editorial team — led by Katharina Pache, with Lukas Schmid, Johannes Gehrling, Matthias Schöffel, and freelancers, under editor-in-chief Sascha Lohmüller — is the same team behind the sister magazine play⁵, Computec's PlayStation title. The 2021 media data presents it as "Deutschlands großes Nintendo-Magazin" — Germany's big Nintendo magazine — with the weekly Nintendo podcast extending the monthly print into the audio. In the German games press, N-Zone is the Nintendo institution: the longest-serving Nintendo magazine in the country.

Overview

The magazine presents itself as Germany's big Nintendo magazine — the monthly journal that explores the Nintendo cosmos with the Switch as its fixed star. Its editorial program covers the Nintendo world's full spectrum: the previews — the upcoming games presented and assessed before release; the tests — the reviews of the new Nintendo titles with the magazine's ratings; the hardware — the consoles, the controllers, and the accessories; the retro specials — the in-depth retrospectives on the Nintendo classics, from the NES to the GameCube; and the tips & tricks — the cheats, the guides, and the community pages. The 2021 media data's program — the exciting news, the exclusive reportages, the tests and previews, the detailed retro specials, the tips and tricks, and the community — documents the monthly mix.

The readership is the German-speaking Nintendo community: the Switch players, the retro fans, and the Nintendo collectors — the fans who have grown up with the magazine since 1997 and the new generation discovering Nintendo. The magazine's authority rests on its longevity: since the first issue in June 1997, N-Zone has been the mandatory reading for Nintendo fans — the editorial guarantee of "competent, unabhängig, ehrlich" (competent, independent, honest) that the 2007 anniversary press release stated. The weekly Nintendo podcast — the editorial team's audio briefing on the Nintendo consoles, brands, and topics — extends the monthly print into the continuous conversation.

The monthly rhythm provides the regular Nintendo briefing: twelve issues a year with the previews, tests, and retro specials. The digital home — pcgames.de/Nintendo/ — carries the Nintendo coverage between the print issues. The magazine's anniversary milestones — the 10th anniversary in 2007 with the Wii newsletter, the subsequent console generations — document its institutional longevity: the German games press's longest-running Nintendo title, still monthly after nearly three decades.

History

N-Zone was first issued in June 1997 by Computec Media — the Fürth-based games-media house — as the specialized Nintendo magazine. The launch came in the Nintendo 64 era: the magazine covered the Wii, Nintendo DS, GameCube, and Game Boy generations from the start, becoming the German Nintendo fans' monthly companion. The 10th anniversary in 2007 was celebrated with the Wii newsletter — the readers' Wii consoles receiving the latest news directly, with exclusive sweepstakes, hot news, tips & tricks, and the N-Zone information, launched on January 11, 2007.

The magazine's editorial history includes Hans Ippisch — the former editor-in-chief, now Commercial Director at Computec Media — who shaped the magazine's early decades. The current editorial team — Katharina Pache (lead), Lukas Schmid, Johannes Gehrling, Matthias Schöffel, and freelancers, under editor-in-chief Sascha Lohmüller — also produces the sister magazine play⁵ (the PlayStation title since 2007), illustrating Computec's integrated console-magazine structure.

The Nintendo generations' succession shaped the magazine's history: the GameCube and Game Boy Advance, the Wii and DS revolution, the Wii U interlude, and the Switch era — each generation covered in the previews, tests, and retro specials. The 2021 media data (Nr. 34, valid from January 1, 2021) documents the magazine's current commercial program: the kiosk print and digital editions, the advertising formats and prices, and the supplements. The magazine's editorial independence — the "unabhängig" in its guarantee — is its credibility: the Nintendo fans trust the tests because the magazine is not the manufacturer's mouthpiece but the readers' advocate.

Coverage and Content

The magazine's coverage follows the Nintendo fan's world. Previews and tests form the core: the upcoming Nintendo games — presented with the screenshots, the hands-on impressions, and the assessments; the reviews — the new releases tested and rated with the magazine's scoring; and the hardware tests — the consoles, the controllers, and the accessories evaluated. The retro specials provide the historical depth: the detailed retrospectives on the Nintendo classics — the games, the consoles, and the eras that the readers grew up with.

Tips & tricks serve the players' practice: the cheats, the guides, the collectibles, and the strategies — the magazine as the player's companion. The community pages — the reader letters, the polls, and the fan content — document the Nintendo community's life. The weekly Nintendo podcast extends the coverage into the audio: the editorial team's weekly briefing on the important Nintendo topics, available on all common podcast portals. The magazine's retro coverage — the detailed specials on the classic eras — serves the collectors and the nostalgic: the Nintendo history as the magazine's second pillar alongside the current tests.

Organization and Ownership

N-Zone is published by Computec Media — the Fürth-based games-media company (part of the Computec Media Group), behind the games magazines PC Games, PC Games Hardware, play⁵, and the portals buffed, Gamezone.de, and Golem.de. The editor-in-chief: Sascha Lohmüller. The editorial lead: Katharina Pache, with Lukas Schmid, Johannes Gehrling, Matthias Schöffel, and freelancers. The former editor-in-chief Hans Ippisch serves as Commercial Director.

The sold circulation of around 5,200 copies (publisher's statement) documents the specialist scale: the monthly that the German Nintendo community's core reads. The commercial model is that of a special-interest games magazine: subscriptions and newsstand sales to the Nintendo fans, advertising from the games industry (publishers, hardware, accessories), and the digital extensions (pcgames.de/Nintendo/, the podcast).

Digital Presence

The magazine's digital home is pcgames.de/Nintendo/ — the Computec portal's Nintendo section, where the monthly print magazine's program extends into the continuous Nintendo coverage. The Nintendo podcast — the N-Zone editorial team's weekly audio briefing on the Nintendo consoles, brands, and topics — is available on all common podcast portals. The 2021 media data documents the digital editions: the kiosk print and digital issues, the advertising formats, and the supplements.

The Computec Media's digital infrastructure — the games portals (buffed, Gamezone.de, pcgames.de), the forums, and the social-media channels — forms the ecosystem in which the N-Zone content circulates. For nearly three decades — from the June 1997 first issue to the Switch era — N-Zone has been Germany's Nintendo magazine: the monthly previews, tests, and retro specials for the Nintendo community, from Fürth — the longest-serving Nintendo journal in the German language, still reporting on every new console generation with the same editorial guarantee: competent, independent, honest — the magazine that the Nintendo fans have trusted since 1997 and continue to trust today — the monthly companion through every console generation, from the Nintendo 64 to the Switch and beyond — the German games press's Nintendo authority, monthly, since June 1997, without interruption — and still going strong.