Rich Waldbiesser of Six Feet Under Games in New Holland, Pennsylvania saw columnist John Riley's column on the WizKids exclusive (see 'Sharpening the Sword -- On WizKids Exclusive') and disagrees with its conclusions:

A single source distribution system from a manufacturer of this size creates a potential for trickledown problems.  First, Alliance/Diamond now controls the wholesale pricing of all WizKids products.  In other words, if you as a retailer want to carry a WizKids product, you must pay whatever price Alliance/Diamond choose to charge. 

Second, if all retailers who carry WizKids products now shift accounts to Alliance/Diamond, how long do you think it will be until other manufacturers follow suit and give Alliance/Diamond an exclusive deal similar to the WizKids deal?  This will put a further strain on other distributors and further reduce competition at the wholesale level.  Taken to its ultimate end, Alliance/Diamond will become the Wal-Mart of the game industry with the power to dictate price and release schedules to many manufacturers.  The net effect on retailers is that Alliance/Diamond now controls your business. 

I get very nervous for the industry as a whole if this unholy alliance works.  I would stop dealing in WizKids products regardless of which distributor they had chosen as an exclusive distributor from a free market support point alone.  Their choice to tie the game industry's fate with the fate of the comic industry is even more disturbing.  This is why we are encouraging all retailers to stop supporting WizKids as they are leading us down a path to disaster.

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