Trump's new tariff policy will cause a devastating blow to the U.S. board game industry

2025-04-06 20:53:50|Myriagame |source：minecraft skins

When countless industries are in turmoil due to major new trade tariff policies introduced by the United States, there is one industry in the United States that is likely to be one of the most affected industries, and that is the tabletop gaming industry.

In the past 15 years, tabletop role-playing games, war chess games, and especially board games, have ushered in a huge development boom.Factors such as the rise of Kickstarter and the mainstreaming of geek culture have allowed various games to flourish and find audiences, gaining unprecedented financial support and sales.

But what many players may not realize is that almost all of these products are produced in China.From miniature models to dice, from game tokens to cards, to game boards and rulebooks, in any board game box or desktop role-playing game starter set, most of the paper, cardboard, plastic figures and printed cards you can find are made in China and shipped to the West for sale.

That is to say, imposing a 54% tariff on goods imported from China to the United States will have a devastating blow to the industry.Costs will rise sharply, and many companies are already facing the dilemma of rising global shipping prices, which is undoubtedly a heavy blow and is likely to directly lead to the bankruptcy of many publishers that are deeply loved by players.

Stonemaier Games achieved great success in 2019 with its board game masterpiece "Spreading Wings" .The company released a wonderful analysis of what they consider future challenges, with the title “Darkest Moment” which is a good summary of the severity of the current situation."Any publisher without cash reserves, regardless of size or length of establishment, is in trouble, especially those currently producing games in China." The report describes a future of soaring prices.It predicts that publishers will increasingly turn to small-scale production of "low-cost, high-profit products" that can be sold directly to consumers or limited-editions through the Kickstarter platform, while retailers, especially local game stores, will be left out.

This complete article is a heavy read, but well worthy of deep thought, and it provides a professional perspective with little hope."The reality of the 54% tariff is devastating. From a mathematical point of view, this simply doesn't work. There is no positive aspect. It's a three-lose situation for all involved."

Steve Jackson Games has a history of 45 years in this industry, including Munchkin and GURPS.The company has issued a similar horrible warning, which has been widely read and even caused the company's website to crash.The warning describes that the current $25 product will easily rise to $40 (“This is not a luxury price hike; it’s a calculation for survival”) and expresses concerns that the company will be forced to simplify products, delay releases, abandon games that are considered to be inadequate profits, and completely collapse in “too much” situations.

Many might suggest simply transferring production to the United States to avoid tariffs, but the reality is that this has not been feasible for a long time.On the plus side, the cost of producing most tabletop gaming products in the United States is much higher than in China (even exceeds the additional costs of tariffs).To put it bluntly, many products cannot be produced in the United States no matter how much they cost - because there is no corresponding professional technology and equipment there. After all, decades ago, relevant American companies were already squeezed out of this market.

Even those who may think that producing something simple in the United States, such as gaming boards or plastic tokens, is not feasible—especially to meet the quality standards that players expect.

Will these tariff policies prompt such manufacturing to return to the United States? This is the general intention of the policy, but it seems unlikely to be achieved, especially in the short term.This requires companies to make huge investments in the current extremely unclear and unstable future prospects.The most difficult thing is, where do they need to start from? Yes, they still have to import from China, and the costs will rise sharply.

"I've got the offer and talked to the factory," Steve Jackson Games said in a statement. "Even if I have the will (made in the United States), the equipment, labor and production cycles simply don't allow it." Stonemaier Games even linked a specific case study, a startup called Quimbley's Toys & Games, which described its ultimate failed attempt to produce games in the United States as "diging a grave."

Justin Jacobson of Restoration Games expressed the same view in an interview with BoardGameGeek: "Most people don't realize that it's actually impossible to produce most tabletop gaming products in the United States, even if you don't care about lowering profits. I mean it's impossible."

On the other hand, even for tabletop game publishers in other countries, U.S. sales may still account for 50% or more of their revenue—so even if they can avoid importing goods from China to the United States, exporting finished games to the United States will still be hit.This would, for example, have a heavy blow to Games Workshop (the creator of the Warhammer series), although most of the company's miniatures are produced in the UK.This has not taken into account the broader economic impact.I dare not call myself an expert in global trade, but even if not an expert, we can conclude that we will see a substantial increase in the cost of a large number of products, especially if this escalates into a full-scale trade war.During such times, people will give up expensive luxury goods and buy necessities in life, and table games undoubtedly fall into the category of luxury goods.

In the short term, the tabletop gaming boom has ended.A series of Kickstarter crowdfunding projects are expected to fail, publishers go bankrupt, layoffs and industry-wide scale reductions.In the long run, no matter where you are, we will see these hobbies become more expensive, with fewer product types to choose from, less quality, and most industries will be integrated by a handful of large companies that can withstand this storm.

Foreign media PC Gamer concluded this: It is still heartbreaking to see a more creative, dynamic and inclusive industry in recent years than ever before, but was stifled by economic policies that were hasty and without obvious benefits at its peak. We all like to take risks when rolling dice, but please don't take risks with the fate of the entire global economy.

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