Reply To: US tariffs and trade woes for gaming

[elessar2590 18221xp 1]

Maybe it’s just that I’m Australian but this sounds a bit weird because for us this is just the norm. There’s literally a name for it called the “Australia Tax” for companies who just arbitrarily charge us more for the exact same products especially digital products. Buying from Chinacast types is the norm (Ukraine has a few as well), using alternative minis for GW games is normal, 3D printing has exploded. Secondhand sales are massive.

The EU has big Tariffs on major Australian industries (Meat exports 19%), (Lamb 34%), (Pork 20%), Mining and Forestry (Minerals 12%), (Metals 12%), (Timber 10%). For some reason our media are going nuts over 10% US Tariffs which have been paused and never mentions these tariffs, because it’s political and it’s a zinger of a headline and it’s about getting article clicks and watch time for ad revenue.

I’m getting the same vibes from this that I’ve got for the past 20 years about GW and Australia. They ban us from buying from overseas then charge us prices as much as double other countries for the exact same product. Europeans and North Americans have always just sneered or told us to get over it, makes people a bit apathetic.

Does anyone else foresee that the secondhand market for games will go up? Probably but it went up during Covid so maybe not that much.

How hard will the summer be for the big game conventions? Those are a Euro/US thing, not really interested and our biggest/only one was CanCon in January.

Does there look to be a better future for Euro manufactured games? Considering most/all games I play are Euro/UK hopefully it means more and better games.

Is this fuel for the indies, minis ambivalent games and 3D printing or more profit for the decentralized model of Steamforged? Maybe although when I visit the website I get hit with this “Notice Due to your selected shipping destination, you will only be able to purchase Warmachine items, Guild Ball and digital products such as PDF’s, STL’s and Free Resources.” so just more of the same I guess.

@grantinvanman I hadn’t seen the bit about WA moving, can you post a link to them saying it?