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PolyCon XXIII Pre-register for PolyCon XXIII for $25: (18 and over only Minors must use minor form) 
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Even More Doom and Gloom An Industry Report by Eric M. Aldrich I After getting harrangued by a few people about my last gloom and doom column all I have to say is "I told you so." Two huge changes of the gaming landscape have occurred since my last column. First off, Wizards of the Coast (WotC) was purchased by Hasbro, Inc. This leaves one manufacturer with the lion's share of almost every genre within our industry, controlling also TSR and Avalon Hill. Secondly, for those who haven't heard, the "big five" of distributing recently became the big two with Alliance, Berkeley Topline and Zocchi distributing being bought by iEntertainment Network, an Internet company specializing in online games and e-commerce. Previously Chessex and The Armoury merged to form Alliance. Now all that remains is this beast and Diamond Comic Distribution (which also handles games). Another major distributor, Liberty, declared bankruptcy earlier this year. On the manufacturing side of things, Iron Crown has declared bankruptcy under Chapter 11. FASA was sold to Decipher. Shadis magazine is dead. Imperium Games is also gone. Actually, I have to admit it isn't all that bad. WotC's Poke'mon is a tremendous success, literally forcing retailers to stay in business much like Magic: the Gathering did five years ago. With Hasbro taking over WotC, charges of breach of trade should fall by the wayside - Hasbro knows better. Judges' Guild is back in business, and it's run by the guys who actually were Judges' Guild back in the early 80s. Hasbro is moving forward with re-publishing several old Avalon Hill titles. They have also granted a license to publish Advanced Squad Leader to Multi-Man Publishing, and finally, after a 20 year wait, SPI's monster boardgame "War in Europe" is back in print. The consolidation of the distributors has many smaller game companies worried. WotC, Hasbro and Games Workshop have nothing to fear from these mergers, but the little guys may become too insignificant to these distributors to even bother dealing with them. Where does this leave everyone? Game distribution is a mess. Small manufacturers are facing a dilemma as to where to sell their games. Retailers are again at the mercy of one product. You figure it out.
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