A radical shake up of the gaming media scene appears to have transpired overnight, long-time publisher Ziff Davis Media exiting gaming, selling 1UP.com to UGO and closing long-running print mag EGM.

"The transaction allows us to pay down debt and shift our full focus to our core PCMag Digital Network business," offers Ziff CEO Jason Young.

"We thank our 1UP team members for their contributions and wish them the best of success into the future."

A number of redundancies are expected at 1UP.com as a result of this dramatic move, although this deal has been rumoured for some weeks, Ziff's financial problems first discussed earlier in 2008.

EGM, meanwhile, closes after 20 years covering the evolution of the games industry. Your thoughts on this, dear readers?

By Luke Guttridge