Rolling for Initiative is a weekly column by Scott Thorne, PhD, owner of Castle Perilous Games & Books in Carbondale, Illinois and instructor in marketing at Southeast Missouri State University.  This week, Thorne comments on the closing of the Diamond Comic Distributors sale, on new developments in the Games Workshop lawsuit, and congratulates Mike Webb.

The sale of Diamond Comic Distributors has finally gone through.  As ICv2 reported, Universal Distribution announced the purchase of Alliance Game Distribution  while Ad Populum, the parent company of WizKids and NECA, took ownership of the assets of Diamond Comic Distributors, Diamond Book Distributors, Diamond Select Toys & Collectibles, Collectible Grading Authority, and other related assets, save for Diamond UK (see "Under New Ownership").  Although the lawsuit from Alliance Entertainment is apparently still moving forward (see "Alliance Entertainment Sues Diamond Again"), from what I have read a purchase of Diamond by Alliance Entertainment would have meant significant changes in the current distribution structure, as an executive of Alliance Entertainment indicated the company's business model was not set up to profitably process items valued at less than $5, meaning the industry would likely have seen an increase in the price of single comics or a minimum quantity requirement for products priced under $5.  As a side note, a new comic distributor, Philbo Distribution, uses a variation of that model, offering comics at a 40% discount but dropping it to 50% for orders of 10 or more.

Repercussions from the sale are already starting at Diamond, as ICv2 reported (see "Comic Executives, Others, Laid Off").  Chris Powell, Diamond's face to the retail part of the comic industry for the better part of the past decade, was laid off, which is certainly a shame.  Given Powell's experience within the industry, though, I expect some smart company to hire him posthaste.

Similarly with Rich Johnson.  Vice President Sales and Business Development at Diamond Book Distributors, who was laid off with his sales team on Friday.  I have also heard that the support people responsible for maintaining ComicSuite and Pullbox were laid off.  However I have also seen posts indicating that ComicSuite would keep functioning as usual for the foreseeable future.  How long we can foresee that future is up in the air, though.

In new filings in the Games Workshop lawsuit against various entities it accuses of infringing its intellectual property (see "Games Workshop Sues Online Sellers"), the company has dropped claims against a number of defendants.  At least one of the individuals that Games Workshop brought charges against runs No Guts No Galaxy, which sells, among other things, magnets featuring mechs from the BattleTech game including one featuring the Warhammer mech, which GW apparently viewed as an infringement of its IP.  The owner of the company discusses the lawsuit GW filed against his company and the steps he had to take to get GW to dismiss the charges here.

On a more positive note, I was happy to see Michael Webb moving from Paizo to WizKids to take a position as the company's general manager (see "People on the Move: Wizkids Hires Mike Webb").  I have known Mike since the late 1990s when he was General Manager at Zocchi Distribution, and remember the events he and Zocchi would host at the warehouse for new Magic releases.  Store representatives would drive to the warehouse, shop, eat and game there until midnight when the set officially released, load up orders and drive back during the wee hours of the morning to have the new set on the shelf on release date.  I happen to think that his long tenure at Alliance Game Distribution is a major reason the company grew into the pre-eminent distributor in the hobby game industry.  Congratulations Mike, it could not happen to a nicer and more qualified guy.

Comments?  Send them to castleperilousgames@gmail.com.

The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.