Seven months after scrapping its iconic oversized format, the biweekly publication will enter the videogame business with the May 26 release of Rolling Stone: Drum King, produced by 505 Games for the Nintendo Wii.

Drum King, a rhythm-action game in the same vein as Guitar Hero, is part of an effort by the biweekly magazine to hitch its brand to a growing medium at a time when print is contracting. In the first quarter magazines tracked by Publishers Information Bureau sold nearly 26% fewer ad pages than the same period last year. Rolling Stone’s pages fell 22.5% for the period.

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Lately the Wenner Media title has been pushing its name elsewhere to offset declines in revenue from the magazine. After Barack Obama was elected, the publisher sold some 300,000 “bookazines,” glossy compilations of its coverage of the Presidential race, at $9.95 apiece.

Another bookazine devoted to the Jonas Brothers will go on sale in August.

“Magazine publishers right now are in a phase when we are looking to leverage every asset we have,” Rolling Stone publisher Will Schenck said.

By venturing into gaming, Rolling Stone also is battling the perception of an aging readership more comfortable with eight-track tapes than videogame consoles. The median age of Rolling Stone readers is 31.1, according to Mediamark Research & Intelligence. Mr. Schenk points to additional research showing Rolling Stone readers are more than twice as likely as the average adult to play videogames two or more times a week.

For 505 Games, publisher of top-selling games in Europe including Cooking Mama and Hotel for Dogs, Drum King is an effort to latch onto the fastest growing segment in gaming. Music has surpassed sports as the top-selling genre, thanks largely to games like Activision Blizzard’s Guitar Hero and Electronic Arts’s Rock Band.

The game uses the motion-sensing capabilities of the Wii, allowing players to use two remotes as virtual drumsticks. Players beat to 30 different tracks by artists like Violent Femmes, Steppenwolf and the Police.

505 has been developing the game for more than a year. It approached Rolling Stone a couple months ago. Adam Klein, president of 505 Games U.S., said he thought Rolling Stone was the only brand that would work. “We needed the most legitimate name in rock music in my opinion,” Mr. Klein said.

Rolling Stone is replicating a strategy aggressively employed by Playboy. The adult magazine has done more than probably any other publisher to extend its brand beyond the pages of its magazine, slapping the trademark bunny-head logo on everything from energy drinks to vacation resorts. Expect more of this from Rolling Stone.

“Extending the brand through licensing agreements is something we’ve been evaluating very closely,” Mr. Schenck said. “This deal signals where we want to go.”

Source: The Wall Street Journal