Popular gaming magazine GamePro has shut down its U.S. operations after 22 years of publications by its parent company IDG. GamePro's website, which has been online for about 13 years, will be converted to a gaming channel and incorporated into PCWorld on Dec. 5.

Sources within the magazine say GamePro's employees, including its executives, received phone calls this morning with the news.

Basically, the entire [GamePro U.S.] portfolio is being shuttered, said an unnamed source from the magazine.

The news comes as a relative surprise, as GamePro experienced its highest traffic ever last week. The unnamed GamePro source said page views were double than normal. The company also released its first quarterly magazine earlier this month after deciding monthly print issues were too costly to maintain.

Fans of GamePro online will be able to access the latest games news, reviews and 'how-tos' from the PCWorld editorial team, the company said. Visitors to gamepro.com will be redirected to the PCWorld GamePro channel on pcworld.com.

Several GamePro Media employees, including president Marci Yamaguchi Hughes, will reportedly move to GamePro Custom Solutions, where they will create custom content for events and vendors. The decision was made by Mike Kisseberth, who runs IDG's Consumer and Small Business media group, which includes PCWorld, Macworld and GamePro Media.

The U.S. editorial and business staff worked hard to earn a passionate, loyal following for GamePro and I am grateful for their dedication and hard work over the years, Kisseberth said. GamePro, like all businesses, must keep up with industry changes and economic realities. Marci and her colleagues have tremendous experience in the games arena, and now they will be putting that knowledge to work for the brands that gamers love.

Look for GamePro Custom Solutions to be blazing new trails in online branding for the game industry, providing gamers with deeper, richer interactions with the companies and titles they most want to know about.

While the magazine and website business will fold, IDG will retain ownership of the GamePro brand, which means it could still decide to eventually revive its U.S. operations sometime in the future. It's still unclear as to what will happen to GamePro's legacy content, which sources from within the company say are very valuable.

GamePro, based in San Francisco, first published in February 1989, and spent 22 years writing features, news, reviews and previews about the video game industry. Its monthly run ended in October.

GamePro is dead. Long live GamePro.

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