The German magazine scene is reminiscent of the British Atari ST market - they purchase a competing title or one that is about to close, and incorporate it into one of the remaining publications. In a shrinking market survival of the fittest involves transferring readers from an extinct title to one of the remaining few. This tactic has resulted in the gradual incorporation of four titles into a single magazine - AMIGAplus.

As the graphic above shows, the process began in February 1993, when 'Kickstart' was incorporated into 'AMIGAplus' magazine. This was followed by the launch of Amiga Fever and AmigaOS in 1998. Just a few months later, Amiga Fever was incorporated into AmigaOS, consolidating their resources. Finally, CP Verlag sold AMIGAplus to Falke-Verlag, resulting in the two magazines being merged under the title, 'AMIGAplus (powered by amigaos)'. Although AMIGAplus is the end result of this process, it is an evolution of the first issue in name only.

AMIGAplus was launched at the peak of the Amigas success, earning the Commodore Germany award of "most innovative Amiga magazine" in 1992. It has since expanded its coverage to compete with the best of the British publications. For a time the magazine launched a spin-off CD-ROM edition - a bimonthly 12 page CD-ROM special. In June 2000, the magazine had stabilized at 68 pages. These were mainly focussed upon serious hardware and software coverage, but games make a limited apppearance towards the back. It is currently available only through subscription or mail order.

Amiga Plus is a fascinating magazine that has evolved to support the remaining Amiga market in Germany. The magazine mixes a retrospect of past glories with an examination of current Amiga products. The result is a magazine that is rich in culture while remaining relevant to the current market.

Christoph Gutjahr provides the following review of AMIGAplus and its two spin-offs:

Over the years, several spin-offs evolved from this magazine: Amiga Plus Sonderheft, Amiga Plus CD-ROM and Amiga Future. During a short period in 1998, Amiga Plus and its spin-offs were the only Amiga publications still available at news stands.

But the shrinking market had its effect on the quality of the magazine: In an attempt to save money they started to fill more and more pages with "cheap" content, performing stunts like using six pages to announce a "vote for your favourite website" prize draw.

Finally, in January 2000, ICP decided to leave the Amiga market and sold all its publications to Falke Verlag (who were publishing the quality-wise superior AmigaOS at that time). Falke dropped the AmigaOS title in favour of the more prominent Amiga Plus trademark.

The new AmigaPlus (which is basically the old AmigaOS with a new title slapped on, the coverdisk had been dropped), has become a very important factor in the German Amiga scene, they are even organising the German Amiga shows. Amiga Plus is mainly focussed upon serious hardware and software coverage, but games make a limited apppearance towards the back. In contrast to Amiga Active's coverage, magazine features are usually a retrospect on past glories rather than what may lie ahead. This results in a magazine that is rich in culture while remaining relevant to the current situation.

After selling/discontinuing all spin-offs during 2001, Falke Verlag finally had to redraw the magazine from the news stands, it is now available through subscription/mailorder only.

AmigaPlus CD-ROM

Discontinued (at the same time Falke gave up "Amiga Future"). No original content, just a "hard paper case" (hard to describe) and a CD-ROM with loads of freely distributable stuff and the occasional commercial title thrown in.

Amiga Plus CD-ROM & Gamer

When Falke gave up "Amiga Future" and "Amiga Plus CD-ROM", they invented a new publication: "Amiga Plus CD-ROM&Gamer". A "mini" magazine (6 pages) with a CD-ROM. Very few original content (mainly general Amiga news, most of it games related), was discontinued in February 2001.

View Amiga Plus November 1991 issue (36k) | View Amiga Plus January 1998 issue (41k)
View Amiga Plus February 2002 issue (20k) | View Amiga Plus May 2000 (57.1k)
View Amiga Plus CD-ROM No. 1 (44k) | View Amiga Plus CD-ROM No.3 (64.9k)

View Amiga Plus CD-ROM No. 2, 3/4 & 6 (34k)
View Amiga Plus CD-ROM No. 4, 5 & 6 (65k)
View Amiga Plus CD-ROM Extra (37k)
View Amiga Plus CD-ROM Extra 2 (290k)