The magazine was conceived by TP Media. Ireland's large PlayStation adoption rate[citation needed] and the greatly increased prices of imported UK publications at the time were contributing factors in launching such a magazine.[citation needed] The Official UK PlayStation Magazine published by Future Publishing could cost up to £9.99 IEP due to Irish import fees.
Although the first three issues of the magazine had the same cover as the UK magazine, OIPM's content was original and written by a team in Ireland, headed by Kevin MacDermot. Certain features were directly taken from the UK version. The magazine's A-Z section was also taken from the UK version, although all future entries were based on OIPM's reviews, not the UK ones.
