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.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

it may be more affordable or a certain quality

Distance is probably a factor. Remember Seattle (for example) is a lot closer to Canada than it is to Washington DC. In the same way London is closer to Paris than it is to Edinburgh.

Bulky low value products are relatively more expensive to transport, so you want to keep the distance short. You don’t want to have to load pulp onto an aeroplane!

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Distance is probably a factor. Remember Seattle (for example) is a lot closer to Canada than it is to Washington DC. In the same way London is closer to Paris than it is to Edinburgh.

Bulky low value products are relatively more expensive to transport, so you want to keep the distance short. You don’t want to have to load pulp onto an aeroplane!

Water transport is quite cheap relative to the quantity transported.

Edit: Just a thought: but as far as I know, wood pulp is not transported anywhere. It is made at the paper mills and poured directly onto the forming machines.

 

[Cergorach]

Where does Games workshop manufacture their miniatures? Where does Hasbro manufacture its toys?

GW manufactures most of the minis in the UK, occasionally some of the very big plastic kits (terrain) are made in China.

Hasbro: Depends on which toys. The Magic cards were manufactured in Belgium, then they moved I think to Cardamundi in Texas. I also read that WotC is actually printing books in the US... Some of the other Hasbro products are also manufactured in the US, don't know which, and not everything is manufactured in China. But even the stuff manufactured in the US, prices for resources will go up (paper/inkt/machines).

A factory list from 2018: https://csr.hasbro.com/en-us/downloads/Hasbro_factories.pdf

I don't know how well Hasbro did when you add in inflation to the growth metric.

I am very curious to see if there's a breaking point for Games Workshop. At some point, people will stop buying their miniatures either because they're too expensive or they simply don't have the disposable income they once had.

That breaking point has been discussed for decades, not two, more like 3-4... Never really happened. And I think GW has seen growth year on year since 2008. From what I remember is that in 2007 they hit a new low in years (I think also a decline of years), not because of economy or prices, but due to product quality. They turned that around with a new edition of 40k in 2008, specifically their core boxed set '40k: Assault on Black Reach'. As most of the stuff comes from the UK and some people have been saying that books are not affected, the UK has the lowest tariff set, and seeing that GW has been setting the GW prices relatively high... They could potentially absorb the costs of that tariff and get to par with the profit margins in the EU.

There have been years (many, many years back) where they were too aggressive in the then almost yearly price hike and it impacted sales a bit. They just paused further price hikes, made attractive bundled mini boxes, etc. and they quickly recovered. They tend to not lower prices, but can compensate with how much you get (perceived value adjustment).

Heck, at this point companies primarily manufacturing in the UK might be in a better position then even companies in the US. They can buy their resources and machines without the tariffs while only costing a 10% tariff. While many resources/machines going into the US have a drastically higher tariff. And when GW imports into the US, they are not paying that 10% tariff over the retail price, but over what it cost GW to produce in the UK (please correct me if I'm wrong), which is a LOT lower then what they sell it for...

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

Heck, at this point companies primarily manufacturing in the UK might be in a better position then even companies in the US. They can buy their resources and machines without the tariffs while only costing a 10% tariff. While many resources/machines going into the US have a drastically higher tariff. And when GW imports into the US, they are not paying that 10% tariff over the retail price, but over what it cost GW to produce in the UK (please correct me if I'm wrong), which is a LOT lower then what they sell it for...

It would be fun if the net effect of the measures was to reindustrialize the UK because it's cheaper to import raw materials and manufacture there to send to the US than importing raw materials to the US and manufacturing there. But since the tariffs are somehow calculated on the perceived trade imbalance, a huge shift in favour of the UK might very well be the signal for increased tariffs over time, so it might not be a long term solution for the hobby to relocate its production centers to places with comparably lower tariffs. I don't think the weight of the hobby alone would do that, obviously, but if ends up being cheaper, other industries with much more weight will consider doing the same move.

 

[Clint_L]

It would be fun if the net effect of the measures was to reindustrialize the UK because it's cheaper to import raw materials and manufacture there to send to the US than importing raw materials to the US and manufacturing there. But since the tariffs are somehow calculated on the perceived trade imbalance, a huge shift in favour of the UK might very well be the signal for increased tariffs over time, so it might not be a long term solution for the hobby to relocate its production centers to places with comparably lower tariffs. I don't think the weight of the hobby alone would do that, obviously, but if ends up being cheaper, other industries with much more weight will consider doing the same move.

The reason Vietnam just got slapped with a 46% rate is because companies moved there to avoid tariffs on China. Edit: my point being I don’t think there will be an easy workaround for companies in the tabletop/TTRPG space. I think we need to get ready for a new reality that challenges the business model of almost every game producer, though I do think that companies like GW and Dungeons and Lasers (Poland) have better odds.

Edit: for those forecasting the further rise of home 3D printing in the US, according to Forbes, last year 94% of desktop 3D printers were…made in China. And so is the plastic. So this will probably challenge the DIY solution, as well.

 

[Morrus]

The reason Vietnam just got slapped with a 46% rate is because companies moved there to avoid tariffs on China.

This is starting to veer into general politics again. Steer it back to the effects of the tariffs on the tabletop gaming industry please, folks.

 

[payn]

Edit: for those forecasting the further rise of home 3D printing in the US, according to Forbes, last year 94% of desktop 3D printers were…made in China. And so is the plastic. So this will probably challenge the DIY solution, as well.

Costs for 3D printers and supplies has been coming down and becoming more affordable. I think as 3D printing gets cheaper (relative to current situation) it will become more attractive to hobbyists than buying expensive sets or packs of minis.

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

Edit: for those forecasting the further rise of home 3D printing in the US, according to Forbes, last year 94% of desktop 3D printers were…made in China. And so is the plastic. So this will probably challenge the DIY solution, as well.

Sure, and most of printing filament is from there too. The US doesn't make squat. That said, home-printed minis have an incredible price edge over traditional ones at the moment, and while the equipment (if you don't have it already, or access to public/commercial printing services) and supplies will get hammered by tariffs, most other minis production will get hit even worse and run smack into what I'll predict to be ballooning shipping costs. At the very least I don't think printed miniatures (and the STL market tied to it) are going to wind up any worse relatively speaking, and I'll surprised if their position doesn't improve quite a bit. Can't foresee a massive expansion - it's already more held back skill and space concerns and those aren't changing - but I don't see a contraction, where many traditional casting companies are looking at possible closure if they can't handle losing sales to tariffs and struggling to source supplies and parts for equipment repairs.

Of course, if you're right and even the operating costs (including repairs and supplies) for printers become unbearable, then yeah, the STL market is in trouble too. The two are so closely tied to one another they'll sink or swim together.

 

[Steel_Wind]

Well that’s certainly… a take.

It's not wrong-headed though. When MSRP goes up, everybody involved wants to increase their markup in terms of dollar value, and they claim this is just how their pricing "works". "We always do it this way; this is how our business works".

So the price effect ends up much LARGER than the actual tariff. Quite a bit larger, if past practice is any guide of future price increases.

This is the way the game business currently works. And no customer likes it, or should.

And yes, customers will absolutely take their displeasure out on games producers, wholesalers, and retailers. And they should, too.

 

[Clint_L]

Sure, and most of printing filament is from there too. The US doesn't make squat. That said, home-printed minis have an incredible price edge over traditional ones at the moment...

Might need another thread for this, but I know miniatures, and home-printed ones are not very good - not by the standards of serious miniatures enthusiasts like me. The cheaper ones are poor quality, with bad resolution and visible print lines, and they are hard to paint. High quality ones (in terms of resolution) are resin, and those can look quite good (I have a fair amount of 3d printed resin terrain), but are fragile and, apparently, much more onerous to make at home (mine are commercially produced). So there are significant trade-offs. Reaper is shifting some of its production to printed miniatures using siocast plastic (which comes from Spain), and these are both much more expensive and have had mixed reviews thus far (I have some; they required extensive cleaning at home, and I haven't painted them yet so I am not yet sure about the resolution; they look pretty good but there does appear to be some fuzziness, which is a perennial problem with printed miniatures).

In my very considerable experience with miniatures (40+ years as a considerable enthusiast, collector and painter, metal and plastic), the best deals in plastic miniatures have come from Kickstarters, where you can get excellent quality (in terms of both resolution and durability), moulded miniatures at better prices than anywhere else.

However, miniatures-oriented Kickstarters mostly do their manufacturing in China (but huge shout-out to Dungeons and Lasers, who are currently running a Kickstarter that I am backing, and do all their work in their home country of Poland). And given that home printers and supplies will get much more expensive with tariffs, whatever price edge home printed miniatures have is also now up in the air.

I don't see any way around tariffs making this aspect of gaming much more expensive for everyone, whatever your preferred solution. I think the consensus among miniatures enthusiasts is pretty much a universal "we're screwed, unless things change."