The Impact of Tariffs on the Board Game Industry and the End of an Era

I think at this point everyone in the world is aware that there have been a lot of change in the way the United States is dealing with tariffs. Its been very hard to predicate what tariffs will be as they have been changing at a rapid pace. This is bad for business in all respects not just the board game industry. The United States makes up roughly 30 percent of all board game revenue thus having a 145% tariff on imports from China to the US will defiantly be a huge impact to the industry.

What is a Tariff? and Some Math

Simply put its a tax on imports. For example lets say I am publishing a game and its manufactured in China and I am US based. Lets also say that my game is $10 USD to make. The tariff at the beginning of 2025 was 10% meaning a 10 dollar game would cost 11 dollars to import. Board games are typically sold at Manufacture Suggested Retail Price(MSRP) about 4-5 times the cost to manufacture. So if my game costs 10 dollars to make with the previous 10% tariff the MSRP would be 44 dollars. With a 145% tariff my game now costs me $24.50 USD. So if we plug that back into the math the new MSRP is 98 dollars.

Now there are several ways a publisher can handle this and I have heard of companies doing all of them at this point (things are still very much in flux). First the publisher can just pass on the costs. This comes in the form of higher prices. In our example it might not be the full 98 dollar MSRP but its defiantly going to be a higher price to consumers. However for the publisher to maintain the same level of profit per game the game would have to be at least an MSRP of $78, a 77% increase in cost to the consumer.

Secondly a publisher can eat the cost to help out its customer base, this will detract from their bottom line. In our example our game that used to cost 10 dollars to manufacture is now costing $24.50. Publishers use distributors, who get about a 60% discount off MSRP from the publisher. 60% off of 44 dollar MSRP is $17.60 then you subtract the manufacturing costs, tariffs and shipping costs the publisher is left with -$6.90 per game. Before the newest tariffs the publisher was getting $6.60 per game in our example. This means the publisher is losing money. This is not a sustainable model for the normal distribution model. I have only heard of this model being used at large publishers where games are already on had in the US and crowdfunding campaigns that do not use the same calculations.

Board Games will be more expensive.

The last few ways of dealing with tariffs are all in the same vain. Publishers are canceling orders and postponing crowdfunding campaigns. This may be permanent or if the companies are able to weather this time of turbulence possibly just postponed. Other publishers like Cephalofair (Gloomhaven) who have already manufactured their games in China are waiting it out. The games will remain in China until the tariffs ease or they can sell them in other markets. Finally, and perhaps the most disappointing option is that companies are going to shut down all operations. Greater Than Games (Spirit Island) announced they are ceasing operations on April 17th 2025.

What does it Mean to You?

Board Games will be more expensive. Some Friendly Local Games Stores (FLGS) are raising prices now in order to have cash on had to buy the more expensive games that will be coming in the next several months. With some smaller publishers not being able to import their games or shuttering operations all together, there will be less games than there were before. Having less games to market could reduce the amount of games that are on store selves from under represented groups. So not only will there be less games with less diversity of view points all the games will be more expensive. The cost will only be compounded by higher inflation as a result of current US economic policies.

why can't we just start manufacturing board games in the US

The COVID-19 pandemic brought a period of great opportunity and prosperity to the board game industry and now that 12% yearly growth might be stunted as a direct result of the tariff increases. I have heard people ask why can't we just start manufacturing board games in the US. Well its not as easy as that. First there are some board game manufactures in the US they are just smaller more boutique operations. So new factories will have to be built and that takes time and a lot of money. The whole supply chain would also have to change. We would have to source all the raw materials for board games in the US. That could take years or even a decade to reproduce stateside. It can be done but it will be very expensive to move to the US. Labor is always a company's largest cost, and US labor is very expensive compared to Chinese labor. So the end result would be that board games will be more expensive. If you want to support the community, I suggest that people support their FLGS and if they cannot get what you need then go straight to the publisher. The last thing you should do is contact your senator and congress person and let them know how tariffs are driving costs up for you. https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials/