Reply To: US tariffs and trade woes for gaming

[limburger 22342xp 0]

@horati0nosebl0wer sure … except there is currently nowhere for production to move.
The knowledge and skills required simply do not exist in the USA.
Ignition Core Games posted something to the effect that they had asked local manunfacturers for quotes and they either didn’t respond at all or couldn’t deliver the quality required at the scale of production needed.

And then there’s the question of finding people willing to do the work.
The minimum wage in the USA is something like 7$/hour depending on the location.  I doubt you can survive on that.
By comparison over here it is currently at +/- 14,40 Euro/hour for a 21 year old.

Never mind how kids these days would rather be an ‘influencer’ instead of doing something constructive.

I’ve seen plenty of crowdfunding projects post something to the effect that

(a) tariff situation is too unstable to make any sort of decision
(b) delaying shipments to the USA is the most practical short term solution until stability is achieved
(c) GameFound has a ‘stable pledge’ construct, which allows backers to get a refund if costs get too high (it makes GameFound relatively ‘safe’ compared to kickstarter where you are at the mercy of project owners). With possible tariffs of 100+% that’s a safety option some will want to use if things don’t change for the better.