Placko Calls New Tariff Policy a “Seismic Shift” for the Industry

The board game industry is about fun, joy, creativity, and community. It’s also pretty innovative, close-knit, and not very profitable. But recent news has the industry in crisis mode, as a lot of people are worried that a new 54 percent tax on Chinese-made goods will push a lot of businesses into the red and possibly out of business.

Designer Jamey Stegmaier, creator of popular games such as Scythe and Wingspan, made headlines this week when he went on a bit of a tear about the new import tax on games made in China but imported into the US. “Last night I tried to work on a new game I’m brainstorming,” Stegmaier wrote in a recent blog post. “But it’s really hard to create something for the future when that future looks so grim. I mostly just found myself staring blankly at the enormity of the newly announced 54 percent tariff.”

As the designer behind some of the most beloved games in the world, Stegmaier has never shied away from making vulnerable statements. This, however, was different. It was a warning that felt like a cry for help.

A Global Business Model Comes Undone

One of the most critical and largely untold realities of the American board game industry is how dependent it is on manufacturing games in China. The US is not the only country with board game factories. Germany, the spiritual home of modern tabletop games, has a ton of them. But when it comes to turning a printed PDF into a shiny, ready-to-play game with custom plastic miniatures, wooden tokens, die-cut game boards, specialty dice, and more, China is where it’s at.

The reality is that making those components domestically in the US is possible in theory, but it is simply impractical in nearly every case. Stegmaier, for instance, said he was quoted $10 by one US manufacturer to build him a simple, empty game box. That’s right: $10 just for the box. For the same $10, he could pay a Chinese factory to produce the components for a game and package it.

To quote himself again: “The problem is that we can’t simply move our manufacturing domestically, even if we wanted to. We can’t afford to.” And that’s before the 54 percent tax.

Publishers Speak Out

The effects of this new tax are not just limited to Stegmaier and his company. Meredith Placko, CEO of Steve Jackson Games, has also posted similar warnings. The company, whose most famous games include Munchkin and Ogre, is similarly reliant on overseas production.

“Some people ask, ‘Why not manufacture in the US?’ 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,” Placko wrote in a recent post.

For Placko and her company, this is much more than an inconvenience. This, she said, is a business model crisis. In a similar post, she wrote that the new policy, which has already taken effect, was “not just a policy change” but “a seismic shift” for the entire industry.

Rob Daviau, co-founder of Restoration Games and designer of the recent Pandemic Legacy, also recently sounded the alarm. A vocal critic of the policy on social media for months, Daviau has said nearly every business meeting since it was announced has become “an existential crisis about our industry.” In a recent interview with BoardGameWire, Daviau estimated there would be a “great collapse in the hobby gaming market in the US” if tariffs like this went into effect.

Gamers to Suffer

As should be obvious by now, this will affect not only publishers, designers, and manufacturers but also gamers themselves. The prices of new games will go up, some companies will sacrifice quality to hold the line on prices, and some companies will limit or reduce their releases. Additionally, brick-and-mortar game stores, already struggling with online competition, are in danger of being affected as gamers turn to their existing collections (many of which have unplayed games on their so-called “shelves of shame”) or simply purchase games online for better prices.

“The future is grim,” Stegmaier says. Within a few months, US companies will lose a lot of money and/or go out of business. And US citizens will suffer from extreme inflation.”

Workarounds, but No Real Solutions

One possible solution publishers have floated is to route their goods through a non-US distributor. For instance, European markets seem less affected by the tax. It’s not a true solution, however, since, as Stegmaier points out, 65 percent of his company’s sales are domestic. It will still cost his company money, no matter what.

It’s also frustratingly and unduly immediate. For games that are still in design or early in the production process, publishers may be able to divert resources and figure out the budget in other ways. For games that are already produced and en route from China to the US, there’s nothing they can do about the 54 percent surcharge. Chris Solis, owner and head designer of California-based Solis Game Studio, told Inverse about the more than 8,000 games being produced by his company.

“I have 8,000 games leaving a factory in China this week and now need to scramble to cover the import bill,” Solis says.

A League in Crisis

The Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA), which represents board game publishers and serves as their main lobbying group, has already been speaking out. However, despite their efforts, the new tax is here to stay.

For an industry that has only been around in its current form for a couple of generations, this is one of the most serious business crises the board game world has seen. For an industry that is, at its heart, about so much more than that, the game looks as if it has just become a lot more uncertain than ever before.