Wizards of the Coast Says That China Tariffs Will Have Minimal Impact on D&D

Parmandur · Apr 24, 2025

WinningerR said:
Did Chris actually say, “D&D is unlikely to be significantly impacted by the tariffs,” or did he say, “the only D&D products produced outside the US are boxed sets?”

I’m guessing the latter because I find it hard to believe the former. Paper costs are certain to rise due to the tariffs, perhaps significantly. There is also going to be a lot more demand for US-based printing, which is likely to drive up printing costs as well. I think it’s too early to say whether WotC could absorb these increased costs; there is just too much uncertainty. Under the current tariff regime, there is real chance the new intro set is simply non-viable.

Thing is, a lot of tabletop companies are already closing down: for them the tariffs are existential. Big difference between being on the line for a random 145% tax on everything in the pipeline already on the one hand, and the probability that paper and publishing costs will ultimately go up on the other. WotC can raise prices as inflationary forces push on them: a small publisher who needs to pay a million bucks to get their product out of port is in a different position.

occam · Apr 24, 2025

Micah Sweet said:
Yeah. It doesn't do much for me to know that the megacorp is going to be ok.

Hasbro is not a megacorp. They seem big to people taking an interest in events on this board, but depending on what you're ranking them on, Hasbro is something like the 2000th largest corporation in the world, taking in less revenue than such household names as ArcBest, Atmos Energy, and Callaway. Actually, Callaway might be a good analogy; they probably seem like a big company if you're really into golf, but again... not a megacorp. Companies like Qualcomm and Dollar General take in 10 times the revenue of Hasbro and the others mentioned above, and I doubt anyone thinks of them as megacorps, either.

Overall, Hasbro is barely more than an average-sized corp.

Cergorach · Friday at 12:08 AM

occam said:
Hasbro is not a megacorp. They seem big to people taking an interest in events on this board, but depending on what you're ranking them on, Hasbro is something like the 2000th largest corporation in the world, taking in less revenue than such household names as ArcBest, Atmos Energy, and Callaway. Actually, Callaway might be a good analogy; they probably seem like a big company if you're really into golf, but again... not a megacorp. Companies like Qualcomm and Dollar General take in 10 times the revenue of Hasbro and the others mentioned above, and I doubt anyone thinks of them as megacorps, either.

Overall, Hasbro is barely more than an average-sized corp.

Hasbro is #1905 when looking at current market cap. Yes, it's not a megacorp, going by the definition of megacorp, there are very few in the world (if any). But Hasbro is not an average corp when it's #1905 of almost 360 million corporations world wide. It's still a multinational that's in the top 0.0006% going off market cap, that makes it 'big'.

Micah Sweet · Friday at 2:39 AM

occam said:
Hasbro is not a megacorp. They seem big to people taking an interest in events on this board, but depending on what you're ranking them on, Hasbro is something like the 2000th largest corporation in the world, taking in less revenue than such household names as ArcBest, Atmos Energy, and Callaway. Actually, Callaway might be a good analogy; they probably seem like a big company if you're really into golf, but again... not a megacorp. Companies like Qualcomm and Dollar General take in 10 times the revenue of Hasbro and the others mentioned above, and I doubt anyone thinks of them as megacorps, either.

Overall, Hasbro is barely more than an average-sized corp.

Not relevant to the discussion at hand. As far as the hobby, the community, and the industry are concerned, Hasbro is the megacorp.

John Lloyd1 · Friday at 2:52 AM

sevenbastard said:
Heroes of the Borderlands is the one product I am most interested in so will be interesting to see what it's proce comes out too.

I'm hoping they can send the boxes directly to the distributors in Australia without going through the US. I have no idea how practical that is.

R_Chance · Friday at 4:14 AM

Cergorach said:
Hasbro is #1905 when looking at current market cap. Yes, it's not a megacorp, going by the definition of megacorp, there are very few in the world (if any). But Hasbro is not an average corp when it's #1905 of almost 360 million corporations world wide. It's still a multinational that's in the top 0.0006% going off market cap, that makes it 'big'.

Most of the corporations you're talking about are law practices, medical groups and other small organizations. There are forty-four thousand publicly traded corporations in the world (2024). Large corporations tend to be publicly traded. I'm not sure where Hasbro lands in this pile. The really big ones include corporations like Berkshire Hathaway, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, etc. Hasbro is a big fish in toys and games but that's a pretty niche market.

LuisCarlos17f · Friday at 4:55 AM

Let's say Hasbro could be the biggest fish in the lake but small in the ocean.

My opinion is Hasbro suspected possible troubles in China, maybe because their past experiences.

I guess I can say the global economy will suffer a radical change in the next years, and the entertaiment industry could be affected by this.

I don't like companies closing because this, but I have got some suspects somebody could take adventage to acquire more IPs.

doctorhook · Friday at 6:11 AM

jgsugden said:
And yet Canada provides 70 to 80% of the US softwood lumber. The US is incapable of producing enough lumber to meet our needs. If we tried, we'd destroy our forests at a rate that we could not rebuild. We'd fail because that rate would not be sustainable. We'd meet our needs for a few years ... but then ... we'd be screwed.

There is a massive amount of information surrounding how these tariffs impact us. You can't know it all. However, there are plenty of economists that have the tools to tell us more than we can possibly know on our own. When you go to the ones without a reason for bias (so not a mouthpiece for Fox News, MSNBC, CNN, etc... for example, international coverage), you get a VERY grim picture.

God I wish we still had real, unbiased, Walter Cronkite style news in the US.

Excellent comment.

Speaking as a Canadian, I promise that my country is in no mood to be charitable to American business right now. Their leadership insults us, threatens us, tariffs us for fictional reasons (and before tariffing anyone else!), and the president claims that “the USA doesn’t need anything from Canada.” Okay then, make your own paper.

[EDIT: Needed to cool off. Self-deleted inflammatory political comments.]

Dannyalcatraz · Friday at 6:31 AM

Mod Note:

Thank you for self editing.

However, given the subject matter, we’re ALL going to have to try VERY hard to avoid getting political in this thread.

Stormonu · Friday at 6:50 AM

MGibster said:
Lumber is a major industry down here in Arkansas as well and we even have a few paper mills. I'm not sure if it's the right wood for the type of paper that goes into books though. This does illustrate just how underappreciated the complexity of supply chains really are by most of us.

Down here in Mississippi, there's Leaf Paper Mill not too far from where I live, so I have a feeling the South US could be used (Louisiana to Alabama, up to Tennessee). The question would be sustainability and cost difference mostly.

Wizards of the Coast Says That China Tariffs Will Have Minimal Impact on D&D

Christian Hoffer

Parmandur

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occam

Hero

Cergorach

The Laughing One

Micah Sweet

Level Up & OSR Enthusiast

John Lloyd1

Rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty

R_Chance

Hero

LuisCarlos17f

Legend

doctorhook

Legend

Dannyalcatraz

Schmoderator

Stormonu

NeoGrognard

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