There's a joke here to be made about subcultures as wide-ranging as the chudliest Warhammer 40,000 goons and the most free-spirited furries uniting to oppose bad policies that make everyone's lives harder in the same way.
I understand your audience is primarily USA. But for us in the UK and Europe we are also thinking about how your tariffs will impact. It's mixed situation, I'm not sure I'll buy any games from an American company at the moment but I'm more inclined to buy from smaller European and Global companies.
Some of the best new games I've played in last few ain't coming from big established companies. But smaller independent. Im hoping to see some more shelf space for these games. And that could be great for the global gaming community.
Maybe. I hope not but it's a sad possibility. However, Europe does have an incredibly strong gaming market with some pretty huge conventions and some publisher's don't even produce an English language translation for the UK so im not sure their business models depends on USA.
Fingers crossed! Here in New Zealand, most designers are still at least partly reliant on US markets and/or distribution infrastructure, or on freelance work for US publishers. This will be a very tough time.
Visited your country this last December. Loved every minute of it. My wife and I have been often saying "I wonder if they need Accounting Professors and teachers?". Every time we say it it starts to feel like less of a joke.
If anyone at polygon wants to write a similar article for video game retailers, I’ve got plenty of people you can talk to who are similarly screwed! No products are safe 🙃
Damn. GenCon is likely to be more like a wake than a celebration. How many vendors are going to have to cancel because they have to decide between having a booth or paying their employees? Or are simply shuttered? F***.
I read a blog post by @stonemaiergames.com and Jamey indicated that conventions might be one of the better places for some of these companies since they can knock a few middle-men out of the chain. Here's that link, if you're interested: https://stonemaiergames.com/the-darkest-timeline/
I don’t want to get too speculative but… tabletop gamers are pretty good at organizing groups of people and might have a newly invigorated interest in politics.
There are designers who had games last year who sold well that may never get paid if their publishers can't meet payroll. As someone who spent 5 YEARS on a game and countless hours promoting it, I find that a sad and sobering thought.
Having the will but no way struck me. I have a company that makes little plastic bits. Without the specialty machinery used in Chinese workshops, it’s finicky work best suited to bespoke goods or prototypes. I’ve done some large runs but scaling up is hard and expensive. It’s demoralizing.
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There really is no one untouched by this mess.