OPINION: Online league table

There’s a good chance our top story is going to ruffle some feathers.

But a list that ranks the top ten UK online games media – yes, including us, and yes, including all the competition – is long overdue.

Of course, it’s little wonder why there hasn’t been one yet.

The online world has murky depths. ELSPA proved last week it took a year of real behind-the-scenes hand-shaking to get the digital charts moving at last.

So it’s no surprise if the fierce competition between the likes of Eurogamer, Future, GameSpot, IGN, Imagine and their rivals have seen them play poker face when it comes to online readerships.

But if the case is to be made over and over that online is superseding print – and many voices are at pains to say it in our ten-page media special this week – then the claim needs supporting evidence.

And our chart certainly demystifies a grey area.

Of course, even if the sales of print magazines continue to struggle, this league table isn’t their obituary. Not yet, anyway. The fierce lobbying we get for the Games Media Awards is testament to that. And innovative physical creatives – whether that’s pullouts that make noises from Crackdown, new iPad editions, or mags targeted directly at kids – show print still has some tricks up its sleeve.

As to how long those tricks will work, however, is another matter entirely…