How Will The New Tariffs Affect TTRPG Prices?

New US tariffs have hit the world, and the tabletop gaming industry is bracing for impact. Every company (including us) will be doing a thorough analysis of how the recent US tariffs will affect their business, and then plan accordingly.

Of the raft of global tariffs on US imports declared yesterday, two in particular affect the tabletop gaming industry--the tariffs on the EU and on China.

The new tariff on goods manufactured in the EU is 20%, while those which originate in China are 34%. This is in addition to a recent 20% tariff on China, raising that level to 54%.

The tariff applies to the place of origin of a product, not the country where the company is registered. Many game companies in Europe, the UK, and Scandinavia print books in the EU; and more complex products which require boxes or other components, including those from game companies in the US, often come from China. The tariff on UK-produced products is 10%, but most UK-based companies print in the EU and China.

There is something called the 'de minimis threshold', and generally shipments below that value do not incur tariffs. In the US that is currently $800, and it mainly affects individual orders bought from overseas. However, that no longer applies to goods made in China. It also won't help with shipments of inventory (such as a print run) shipped to a US warehouse from the EU. When somebody in the US orders a book from, say, a UK game company, that order will often be fulfilled from inventory stored in a US warehouse rather than shipped directly from the UK. That US inventory will have incurred the tariff when it was shipped as part of a larger shipment.

A shipment of our books from our printer in the EU​

Of course, these aren't the only way that tariffs can affect prices. Even products manufactured in the US might use materials or components from China, Canada, or the EU, and that will affect the production cost of those products. For example, a US printer which uses paper sources in Canada is going to have increased costs. DriveThruRPG's print-on-demand costs have already increased by as much as 50% in the US.

How might game companies go about handling these increased costs?

• Eat the tariff themselves. That might be possible in some instances, but the size of them will likely make that non-feasible. Most game products do not have a 54% profit margin.​
• Manufacture in the US. That solution might be feasible but runs into a couple of barriers. (1) US printing costs tend to be higher; (2) goods would then have to be exported to the EU, Canada, and other countries, which may have reciprocal tariffs in place; (3) US printing capacity isn't up to the task (remember printers don't just print games--we're talking books); (4) US non-book game component manufacture capacity is even more difficult; (5) splitting a print run between a US and EU or Chinese printer greatly reduces the per-unit manufacture cost as the volume at each location will be halved; (6) as the recent DTRPG printing cost increase shows, even US printers use raw materials from elsewhere.​
• Pass the cost along to customers. This, unfortunately, is probably going to be the most feasible result. This means that the price of games will be going up.​

It gets really difficult when the production/shipping process straddles the tariff. We at EN Publishing have four Kickstarters fulfilling (Voidrunner's Codex, Gate Pass Gazette Annual 2024, Monstrous Menagerie II, and Split the Hoard) which have been paid for, including shipping, by the customer already. Two of those (Voidrunner and Split the Hoard) involve boxes and components, which meant they were manufactured in China. The other two are printed in the EU (Lithuania, specifically). All four inventory shipments will arrive in the US after the tariffs come in. We haven't yet worked out exactly what that means, but it won't be pleasant.

I suspect in the future, in these days of sudden tariffs, companies will hold back on charging for shipping right up until the last minute. And that's also bad news for customers, as they won't know the shipping price of a game until it's about to ship. This might also mean a shift towards digital sales which--currently--are not affected.

Most game companies are likely crunching numbers and planning right now. It is not known how long the tariffs will be in effect for, or what retaliatory tariffs countries will put in place against US goods. But this is a global issue which is going to drastically affect the tabletop gaming industry (along with most every other industry, but this is a TTRPG news site!)

Steve Jackson Games posted about the tariffs (the site seems to be experiencing high traffic at the time of writing)--

Some people ask, "Why not manufacture in the U.S.?" I wish we could. But the infrastructure to support full-scale boardgame production – specialty dice making, die-cutting, custom plastic and wood components – doesn't meaningfully exist here yet. I've gotten quotes. I've talked to factories. Even when the willingness is there, the equipment, labor, and timelines simply aren't.

We aren't the only company facing this challenge. The entire board game industry is having very difficult conversations right now. For some, this might mean simplifying products or delaying launches. For others, it might mean walking away from titles that are no longer economically viable. And, for what I fear will be too many, it means closing down entirely.

Note: please keep discussion to the effect of tariffs on the game industry. This forum isn't the place to discuss international politics.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Welp, Trump just announced another 50% increase on China to be effective on Wednesday. It's hard to keep up with this mess. At this rate, anything manufactured in China will be priced out of the market. We don't have manufacturing set up to replace that, so might as well just say goodbye to boardgames for a while, or be willing to pay $100 for a copy of RISK.

 

[Scribe]

Welp, Trump just announced another 50% increase on China to be effective on Wednesday. It's hard to keep up with this mess. At this rate, anything manufactured in China will be priced out of the market. We don't have manufacturing set up to replace that, so might as well just say goodbye to boardgames for a while, or be willing to pay $100 for a copy of RISK.

It's going to be great, perhaps the biggest, the greatest, all the people are saying it, I'm not saying it, I hear people say it.

The Greatest Depression.

 

[humble minion]

Welp, Trump just announced another 50% increase on China to be effective on Wednesday. It's hard to keep up with this mess. At this rate, anything manufactured in China will be priced out of the market. We don't have manufacturing set up to replace that, so might as well just say goodbye to boardgames for a while, or be willing to pay $100 for a copy of RISK.

Yeah, 50% on top of the 34% or whatever that was announced in the first round … that’s not just ‘your hobby is only accessible to financially comfortable people’ territory any more, it’s ‘your industry is dead’ territory. RPGs are probably better off than some other niches of the hobby due to the general electronic-friendliness of the format and the possible book exemption, but the board game, collectible miniature, and TCG industries - and therefore hobbies -will be lucky to survive this in any form at all. Lots of people are going to lose everything over this, their dream job and the business they built up over painstaking years.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Yeah, 50% on top of the 34% or whatever that was announced in the first round … that’s not just ‘your hobby is only accessible to financially comfortable people’ territory any more, it’s ‘your industry is dead’ territory.

It brings the total combined tariff to 104%

 

[Morrus]

Yeah, 50% on top of the 34% or whatever that was announced in the first round …

50% + 34% + the original 20%. 104% in total. This is changing faster than we plan our reactions--we literally just finished running the numbers and deciding what to do about our shipments based on the 54%. We physically can't pay 104%.

That is the end of the boardgame industry. Publishers can't absorb that, and customers can't pay it.

 

[humble minion]

I do wonder about Hasbro. I believe their D&D stuff is printed in the USA, but what about Magic cards? I assume their board games and toy lines are largely manufactured in China too, because that’s exactly the sort of manufacturing that China does.

They could very easily find themselves in trouble, with inevitable knock-on effects for D&D.

 

[Weiley31]

State of Play SPECIAL EDITION! Kobolds hate tariffs!

Substantial US tariffs are going into effect on April 5, 2025. These import taxes will require most US game companies to raise prices on new releases. Here is how Kobold Press is responding.

koboldpress.com

My apologies if somebody already posted it in this thread.

 

[MGibster]

50% + 34% + the original 20%. 104% in total. This is changing faster than we plan our reactions--we literally just finished running the numbers and deciding what to do about our shipments based on the 54%. We physically can't pay 104%.

As crummy as this is for a lot of us as consumers, my heart absolutely goes out to the many people whose livelihood is negatively affected by these tariffs. Publishers, producers, artists, retail stores, and even those who would ship the items are all hurt by this.

 

[Sacrosanct]

As crummy as this is for a lot of us as consumers, my heart absolutely goes out to the many people whose livelihood is negatively affected by these tariffs. Publishers, producers, artists, retail stores, and even those who would ship the items are all hurt by this.

For real. Art is probably the top expense for me. In an effort to keep costs down, I see a lot more publishers going with AI art. Which absolutely screws all those talented artists out there.

 

[Art Waring]

but what about Magic cards?

MTG is primarily printed in Japan, all mainline/tentpole sets/sheets are printed and cut in Japan, then shipped worldwide.

MTG primarily prints through Cartamundi, which is a Belgium-based company (largely printing the foreign language print runs, with facilities in the UK, Germany, Poland, India, & Japan). They also have a facility in Dallas, TX that prints smaller run sets like collectors boxes and stuff for conventions (like mystery booster 2). I also happen to know that collectors boxes are being printed in fewer numbers than previously (i.e. less printing in the US, more overseas currently).

I am aware of this because I am trying to publish as an indy artist/designer. I was planning to include my own card prints with my ttrpg game, but the rising costs (now 104%????) now make this unfeasible for smaller solo publishers like me (and printing within the US, BEFORE tariffs were an issue, was already triple the printing price vs printing overseas).

As for DnD, well lets be honest, MTG is the billion-dollar a year cash cow for Wotc/Hasbro, while DnD is barely a blip on their radar in comparison. I would guess that they are 100% focused on MTG ATM, and DnD will be nothing but an afterthought (in terms of what they will be doing infrastructure-wise). Not to mention that this will reinforce their digital-only push to get people onto DDB, and have ever-more reasons to curb their physical book printing as much as they can.

I honestly don't think that Wotc (as big as they are) has enough of a support structure (nor enough printing presses) within the US to just stop printing overseas overnight. Compound this with their recent spike in mtg prices, and things do not look good (the upcoming Final Fantasy sets MSRP is almost double the cost of former sets, & even other previous UB sets like WH40k), for a non-premium standard legal set this presents a myriad of its own problems).

MTG was already on its way to becoming very expensive as a hobby. Now it is probably cheaper to get a WH40k army then it is to get a viable Standard deck (which can have a cost of 400-700$, on the low end, as the cost of cards is always going up & rotations increasing in rate). This was also before tariffs became a factor, I have no idea what things will end up looking like this time next year.

And one final note: Quality Control: MTG has been cutting costs for a very long time in regards to quality control. Anyone that regularly plays mtg knows about "pringled" foils, misprints, miscuts, and the variety of printing mishaps which make it to the final sealed product. I can only see this getting worse with the current situation.