From 2000 to 2002 the company struggled to grow as it encountered a dramatic shift in the viability of its distribution network. The hobby game distribution companies were changing once more, this time with another two of the four leading distributors in the United States closing their doors and with the remaining distributors shifting their focus to more and more support of collectible game publishers only. At the same time multiple larger companies from the toy and computer game industries entered the hobby game market to get a slice of the ever growing collectible games product category. That was effectively the last nail in the coffin on the effectiveness of using the three tier system (Publisher/Distributor/Retailer) within the hobby market to distribute the Guild's games.

In 2003 the Guild of Blades changed its market focus and it decided to cut game distributors out of its distribution process for North America. Instead the company began to sell products directly to retail stores and to the public at large. New initiatives to set up to capitalize on the company's new direction. Expansion of the Guild's web presence and e-commerce site put the company back on the fast track to growth once more. The Guild of Blades expanded its in house print facility and diversified into the printing business as well.

By 2004 growth of internet sales and the printing business allowed the Guild to staff up beyond its principle partners, leaving the owners once more free to pursue expand existing programs and seek out new markets for further expansion. In early 2004 the Guild's computer game business model took roots and the early stages of development for the Empires of History Online Gaming Network began. By late 2004 the Guild also resurrected a number of out of print product lines and started developing new ones and entered the PDF (electronic downloads) games market.