Magazines exist because of advertisers and subscription holders. Period.

The cost of everything related to producing a quality publication went up substantially. Subscribers and ad revenue were flat, or down. CFOs and stockholders look at that and start asking hard questions.

Kalmbach tried a lot of things to generate more robust issues to make SA more attractive to advertisers, but beyond the majors (R2, primarily) the ad pages got thin. The classified section, which used to be pages long, dried up with the widespread adoption of the internet, ebay, etc. All the revenue streams fell, then went dry.

Modeling as a hobby is still fairly robust. But it is far more specialized, in a much narrower demographic window than before. I can't imagine it was an easy decision for Kalmbach, but they are not a charity, either.

I don't see a scenario where they would out-MCM the competitors, and their policies prevented crossover (paging Mr. Sherwood) participation of writers.

I'm frankly surprised we have not seen a title dedicated to fantasy/space/sci-fi from them, because those guys are rolling in cash and spend it like no tomorrow. But some might note, their job during the day is killing paper.