Diamond Comic Distributors Files Bankruptcy, Sells Alliance Game Distributors

The parent company of one of the key tabletop industry gatekeepers has filed for bankruptcy. Alliance Game Distributors is set to be acquired by Universal Distribution.

According to the filings the company owes money to various tabletop industry creditors (thanks to @Abstruse for the list):

• Wizards of the Coast: $914,602
• Hasbro (separately): $1,064,378
• Catalyst Game Labs (BattleTech, Shadowrun, Voltron): $401,483
• Army Painter Ap5 (miniature paint manufacturer): $316,296
• Publisher Services, Inc (board game and TTRPG distributor): $223,141

Also, NECA is owed $2,682,994. This is mostly from collectibles, but NECA also owns WizKids and Alliance handled distribution for HeroClix and their various D&D/Pathfinder miniature lines.

You can see a more complete list of all of the companies owed money over at comicsbeat.com.

 

[dbolack]

While I've certainly seen my share of what you're describing above, I'd caution you not to assume.

I haven't pushed a book into distribution in a very long time but I've not heard from friends who still do that the behaviour has improved much. Admittedly "They are out of business" is a little harder to get away with these days. Out of print is a little harder for a retailer or a customer to validate - but it is doable. It's been a while. I sincerely doubt many, if any of the folks in those days are still around but I'll never trust that layer of the industry again. Getting Wizard's Attic'd didn't help.

At MY Comic & Game store, we consider "getting you what you ask for" to be the whole point of the job. We will bend over backwards to do it.
And oftentimes, our distributors (what am I up to, six of them? Nine?) don't have any, or have jacked the price above retail, or have it at some warehouse but won't ship to our local one, or various other excuses.

Oh, I get it. I spent my years as the store Mikey who'd be handed the upcoming releases list because the store owner knew it was the best way to get less common stuff in the store and he knew I wouldn't be mad if someone else came in, saw it, and picked it up first.

It's still the best way to save on shipping, in spite of being an arm and a leg for shipping these days.

Amen to that.

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

The Top Thirty Companies That Diamond Owes Money To

The top thirty companies Diamond owed money to when it went bankrupt, from Penguin to Bandai, Todd McFarlane to Hasbro, Funko to Udon

bleedingcool.com

• Penguin Random House leads creditors list with a $9.2 million debt from Diamond.

Is that the sound of history repeating I hear?

 

[Cordwainer Fish]

The Top Thirty Companies That Diamond Owes Money To

The top thirty companies Diamond owed money to when it went bankrupt, from Penguin to Bandai, Todd McFarlane to Hasbro, Funko to Udon

bleedingcool.com

Is that the sound of history repeating I hear?

SPI sends its regards.

 

[GothmogIV]

That sucks for Goodman. I will buy MORE of their stuff to help them.

 

[beta-ray]

The one thing I like about Diamond is Previews. It was a pretty convenient way to do orders.

 

[Psyga315]

key tabletop industry gatekeepers

What exactly does this mean? As in they were gatekeeping the tabletop RPG scene? Or is this a different meaning?

 

[aramis erak]

What exactly does this mean? As in they were gatekeeping the tabletop RPG scene? Or is this a different meaning?

They've been gatekeeping, yes, as they're one of the big three distributors in the US prior to the lockdown. Many stores only do business with one or two, and Alliance has been the one I've overheard most often.

Their inability to provide product in a timely manner has been a problem for my FLGS. And me.

They also don't get many of the indie games... and a number of things they show in their catalogue haven't been restocked even tho' the publisher has done additional print runs...
... Forcing me to look at direct-from-publisher for certain books.

 

[michaeljpastor]

Here's what a few TTRPG and related companies are owed by Diamond and/or Alliance according to the filings:

Wizards of the Coast: $914,602
Hasbro (separately): $1,064,378
Catalyst Game Labs (BattleTech, Shadowrun, Voltron): $401,483
Army Painter Ap5 (miniature paint manufacturer) $316,296
Publisher Services, Inc (board game and TTRPG distributor): $223,141

Also, NECA is owed $2,682,994. This is mostly from collectibles, but NECA also owns WizKids and Alliance handled distribution for HeroClix and their various D&D/Pathfinder miniature lines.

It will be interesting to see where the debt lies in the corporate structure between Diamond and Alliance, and how a sale of Alliance will affect the above listed creditors. If/when Alliance is sold, who gets the money? Alliance creditors or is it spread out amongst all of Diamond's creditors?

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

What exactly does this mean? As in they were gatekeeping the tabletop RPG scene? Or is this a different meaning?

At least in the US, distributors act as de facto gatekeepers to getting your products on retail store shelves. You can certainly succeed these days with direct sales and crowdfunding models, but if you want access to any significant number of game stores you have to get one (and preferably more than one) of the major distributors to carry your stuff. That's never been a guaranteed thing, and the distributors my various FLGSs use have become increasingly risk-averse as their own financial position has become weaker. They simply won't stock as widely or as deeply as they once did, and dealing with really small publishers isn't very appealing at all to most of them at this point. Even when you do get them to stock a line, they're often sluggish about restocking as things sell out in their warehouse, and sometimes won't do so at all - which inevitably leads to stores acting the same way, treating many games as something to carry for a handful of order cycles at most and then just forget about in favor of newer product.

The trend started well before COVID but became much more noticeable afterward. There are viable alternatives for smaller companies now - direct sales online, crowdfunding, even Patreon and the like - but they still lack the ability to put physical product on store shelves where people can pick it up and look at in person. Even in 2025 that's a style of shopping many people prefer, and that isn't going to change any time soon.

 

[michaeljpastor]

Sorry, I repeated a question I forgot I asked.