Days of Wonder forged an exclusive distribution deal with Alliance Game Distributors and Diamond Comic Distributor for the North American and Asian markets.

The official line is that this is to reign in soaring distribution costs, get a better handle on inventory, and in response to industry consolidations. ICv2 interviewed DoW CEO Eric Hautemont and Vice President Mark Kaufman to get more details.

The interview covers the above material, but there’s a little bit at the end of the interview, which some might interpret as a slight dig toward another company in the business who shall go unnamed:

So you’re not trying to control who buys or what prices they set?

Hautemont: Exactly. We think it’s not even a matter of like or dislike, we think it’s a losing battle. Consumers are the people who pay our checks and the distributor checks and the retailer checks. At the end of the day, we firmly believe they have the right to choose the way they are most comfortable buying. Some of them like to buy online. Some of them like to buy in a real store and it will be naive of us to think that we could affect or change that. We aren’t a big enough player, and I think even the large players can’t dictate to end-users where they purchase.