Size Really Matters as Imagine Media Boosts Next Generation to New Wide Format.

Business Editors/Entertainment Writers

BRISBANE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 24, 2000

Imagine Media, Inc., America's most successful publisher of PC and video games magazines, announced today the expansion of its leading multi-system consumer publication, Next Generation, to a wider format for publication. The boost in size is structured to allow for expanded coverage and to ensure the room necessary for the latest graphics from the top titles and systems.

Publisher Doug Faust stated, "Adding 12% to the width to Next Generation also provides an extra bit of room on the retailer's shelves next to other publications competing for the consumer's attention and ultimately, their magazine spending money. When dealing with perception of value, the consumer has spoken - bigger is better. We've been using this wide-issue format since day one in publishing Official Sega Dreamcast Magazine and it's proved tremendously popular with readers and advertisers."

Editor in Chief Tom Russo said, "This added elbow room in Next Generation is a huge asset. We're thrilled to provide our readers with more editorial content per page, especially since we cover the latest titles for Sony's PlayStation 2, Microsoft's X-Box, Sega's Dreamcast, as well as the hottest releases for the PC. As video game graphics improve with each generation, it is important to provide readers with bigger, better screen shots that really capture the high level of detail offered in today's games. Our audience wants to see the games in as much detail as possible before making their buying decisions, so this is a huge win for us and the game developers and publishers."

The size change begins with the September 2000 issue of Next Generation.

About Imagine Media, Inc.

Imagine Media (www.imaginemedia.com) is America's fastest-growing publisher of magazines and web sites. Its success is based on the "passion" strategy: creating products that excite tech-savvy consumers. It recently merged into The Future Network plc (London:FNET, www.futurenet.com), the media company founded by Imagine's CEO Chris Anderson in 1985. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Imagine Media's publications sell in excess of 1.5 million copies per month. Its market-leading titles include: Business 2.0, Games Business, Games Insider, MacAddict, Maximum Linux, Maximum PC, Next Generation, Official Sega Dreamcast Magazine, PC Accelerator, PC Gamer, PSM: 100% Independent PlayStation Magazine, and on the web: www.DailyRadar.com, the MacDaily Network (www.macdaily.com) and the MaximumPC Network (www.maximumpc.com).

About The Future Network Plc

Future was founded in the UK in 1985. Today it publishes over 125 magazines worldwide and has extensive online activities attracting the attention of 4.6 million unique visitors and generating over 58 million page views per month. It is the world's fastest growing major publisher; the leading publisher of video games and home computing magazines in the UK, France, Italy, Poland and the US; and ranks as the fourth largest magazine publisher in the UK. Future employs over 1,500 people in offices in Bath, London, San Francisco, New York, Paris, Milan, Munich, Rotterdam and Wroclaw. Future was floated on the London Stock Exchange in June 1999 and has a current market capitalization of over (pound)1 billion.

Future's Internet activities serve the PC, Mac, Games, Music and Football communities in the US and the UK with fast-growing sites like maximumpc.com, maximumpc.co.uk, dailyradar.com, intermusic.com, and ufn.co.uk. Future's Web sites and Web networks provide rich, community and information-based services to people in these and related markets worldwide.