Donald Trump & His Tariffs Impact On The Video Game Industry

Donald Trump is on a quest to make America broke again, oops we mean “wealthy again” through tariffs, but he keeps ignoring what economists are trying to get through his thick orange head, regular Americans will feel the pain through their wallets. Felon 47, for whatever reason, is obsessed with tariffs and believes they are a great tool against our three main trade partners, Canada, China, and Mexico because he feels we are being “ripped off,” in the trade deal he negotiated during his first term.  Trump didn’t waste any time imposing a 25% tariff on Canada and Mexico, but he pulled some back after the stock market reacted negatively. As of this writing, the markets continue to tank due to his bonehead decision.

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The Orange Menace imposed an additional 10% tariff on goods from China on top of the 10% tariff he imposed on the country in February. Analysts believe that Trump’s new round of tariffs will make video games and other electronics more expensive and push publishers to abandon physical releases. GameRant reports that Trump’s tariffs on Mexico could make consoles like the Nintendo Switch 2 more expensive and have other negative implications.

Per GameRant:

Industry experts are particularly concerned about the ripple effects on the video games market. Mat Piscatella, Circana Executive Director and Video Game Industry Analyst, predicts a “sharp downtick” in the number of physical game releases in the United States. Much of the production infrastructure for these games is based in Mexico, and a 25% tariff would disrupt supply chains, increasing manufacturing costs. As a result, retailers may raise prices on both physical and digital games to maintain price parity. “If physical game prices go up, digital games’ MSRPs will likely follow,” Piscatella noted in a recent discussion on Bluesky. He expressed doubts about any positive outcomes for the physical game market in the near future.

Bruh. During Trump’s first disastrous presidency, the video game industry convinced him to chill and exclude them in the tariffs he placed on Chinese goods, but he has not extended the same grace. The ESA warned that Trump’s tariffs could significantly harm the video game industry. There are fears that Project 2025, the extreme right-wing playbook that Trump claims he knows nothing about, could somehow interfere with the release of Grand Theft Auto 6 because the language in it suggests possible censorship of games like GTA 6 due to their graphic and violent nature. This nightmare is just beginning. Brace yourselves, it’s going to be a long four years. You can see reactions in the gallery below.

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