Sucks When Your Paradigm Breaks

I'm still on Steve Jackson Games mailing list and I got this today:

An Important Message From Our CEO Meredith Placko

On April 5th, a 54% tariff goes into effect on a wide range of goods imported from China. For those of us who create boardgames, this is not just a policy change. It's a seismic shift.

At Steve Jackson Games, we are actively assessing what this means for our products, our pricing, and our future plans. We do know that we can't absorb this kind of cost increase without raising prices. We've done our best over the past few years to shield players and retailers from the full brunt of rising freight costs and other increases, but this new tax changes the equation entirely.

Here are the numbers: A product we might have manufactured in China for $3.00 last year could now cost $4.62 before we even ship it across the ocean. Add freight, warehousing, fulfillment, and distribution margins, and that once-$25 game quickly becomes a $40 product. That's not a luxury upcharge; it's survival math.

Some people ask, "Why not manufacture in the U.S.?" 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.

We aren't the only company facing this challenge. The entire board game industry is having very difficult conversations right now. For some, this might mean simplifying products or delaying launches. For others, it might mean walking away from titles that are no longer economically viable. And, for what I fear will be too many, it means closing down entirely.

Tariffs, when part of a long-term strategy to bolster domestic manufacturing, can be an effective tool. But that only works when there's a plan to build up the industries needed to take over production. There is no national plan in place to support manufacturing for the types of products we make. This isn't about steel and semiconductors. This is about paper goods, chipboard, wood tokens, plastic trays, and color-matched ink. These new tariffs are imposing huge costs without providing alternatives, and it's going to cost American consumers more at every level of the supply chain.

We want to be transparent with our community. This is real: Prices are going up. We're still determining how much and where.

If you're frustrated, you're not alone. We are too. And if you want to help, write to your elected officials. You can find your representative and senators' contact information at house.gov and senate.gov. Ask them how these new policies help American creators and small businesses. Because right now, it feels like they don't.

We'll keep making games. But we'll be honest when the road gets harder, because we know you care about where your games come from – and about the people who make them.

 

I'm not finding a lot of sympathy in my heart for them. 

I don't think they realize that what they are really saying is, "our business model of having someone else be the manufacturer of our products has just failed."

They are just a design studio because they have no production of their own.

I remember full page ads from the companies that did the printing and die cutting in America when everyone was, "it's so much cheaper in China!"  Those ads were practically begging for business and support.  But companies like SJG went to China instead of supporting the domestic company and the domestic companies went under.

But I have an observation:  This looks like an opportunity!  Buy a building.  Buy some machines.  Invest in those domestic companies who are willing but lack the ability to do the volume required.

Sell at a price point that is lower than the 54% tariff!  Which, by the way is actually 34%, don't lie.

This, by the way, is the real intention of those tariffs.  To get production back on shore.

Rather than complain that mean old orange man fucked me, be the savior of the industry and start being the domestic company that actually makes the games!

Or are you spending too much on DEI to afford it?