Jörg, Toni and Martin today and 25 years ago: Would you buy a used game magazine from these three gentlemen?
GameStar wouldn’t have survived 25 years if it wasn’t built on a great foundation. And this foundation was laid by our founding fathers*, whom Michael Graf receives in the podcast:
- Jörg Langer was the founding editor-in-chief of GameStar, today he runs the games magazine Gamersglobal and can be heard in Gaming Veterans Podcast.
- Tony Schwaiger was the shortest-serving deputy editor in GameStar history, was responsible for our video focus including “Starship GameStar,” and now works in the emergency services.
- Martin Depe was part of the GameStar editorial team right from the start and quickly became Toni’s successor as deputy editor-in-chief. He is still part of the GameStar family and continues to write for us – for example the test of Regiments recently.
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In the podcast, the three talk about the founding days of the GameStar – or »the« GameStar, for Jörg the magazine name is still masculine – just like »der Stern« too. Although we were quite lucky that our magazine is not called »GameFire« today. Or »PC Games Professional«.
Together we will talk about how and why Jörg was hired by our former publisher IDG, why a fax machine costing 10,000 marks (younger people please google “Mark” and “fax machine” here) led to the dispute and what Jörg Martin had to promise to get him into the lure into the sinister basement office that GameStar inhabited at the time.
In the pilot episode of “Spaceship GameStar” you can see the founding editorial team, including Mick Schnelle, who unfortunately recently passed away, as well as the then IDG managing director York von Heimburg and publishing director Stephan Scherzer:
8:10
Spaceship GameStar – Episode 01: A New Hope
Toni not only talks about the walls painted blue (our variant of the blue screen), but also why he left the editor-in-chief after just a few weeks. As a video magician, he also laid the foundation for GameStar’s video mainstay, which is still successful today Youtube-Kanal.
And Martin mourns the loss of his long-sold flying Vespa and remembers beer exports to America to get exclusive screenshots, as well as the extremely strenuous start-up period. A new magazine like this is not created out of thin air and love, but as the result of hard work.
*One important founding father is missing from our group, namely Charles Glimm, who was part of the founding team from the very beginning alongside Jörg and Toni. Micha had asked him for the podcast, but Charles didn’t want to talk about the old camels anymore. So at this point, thank you for everything you did for GameStar back then, Charles! Your work as copywriter will remain unforgettable, as will your Bellestar diary from Ultima Online and your incomparable cowboy look.
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