PlayStation: The Official Magazine
defunct magazine in the United States
PlayStation: The Official Magazine (PTOM) was a magazine originally known as PlayStation Magazine (PSM), becoming PlayStation: The Official Magazine in late 2007. PlayStation: The Official Magazine was published 13 times a year by Future plc until its cancellation in late 2012.
PSM's UK-based partner magazine, PSM3, was another Future publication.
History
PSM: 100% Independent PlayStation Magazine
Prior to becoming the official magazine, PSM was an independently published video game magazine specializing in all Sony PlayStation-brand video game consoles and handheld gaming platforms. PSM was published by Future, who also publishes PlayStation Official Magazine in United Kingdom.
The magazine launched with the September 1997 issue, which featured Final Fantasy VII on the cover. During its publication, it consistently outsold every other PlayStation-dedicated magazine both in the United States and abroad (according to independent ABC audits).
PSM celebrated ten years of publication with its 2007 issue. By this time, the magazine had been through several redesigns, most recently with its June 2006 issue. Also over its history, the magazine had sponsored side content such as cover-mounted DVDs, websites, online forums, and near the end, a PSM podcast.
The public source identifies “PlayStation: The Official Magazine” as defunct magazine in the United States. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around PlayStation, Official and Magazine.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “PlayStation: The Official Magazine”, the useful work is to connect “defunct magazine in the United States” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q654540. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2007, 2012, 1997 and 2006.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “PlayStation: The Official Magazine”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow PlayStation: The Official Magazine primary sources, PlayStation: The Official Magazine archive and PlayStation research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “PlayStation: The Official Magazine” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.