Trump tariffs threaten the future of physical video games, analyst warns
Mexico and China are among the world’s largest producers of game discs and consoles
US president Donald Trump’s newly imposed tariffs could make publishers decide to stop releasing physical games due to the increased cost of manufacturing, an analyst has suggested.
After weeks of threats, Trump has now imposed 25% tariffs on goods that have been imported from Mexico and Canada. In addition, Trump announced a further 10% tariff on goods from China, on top of the previously announced 10%.
The tariffs on Mexico and China will likely have a significant impact on the video game industry, due to both regions playing a large part in the physical production of both physical video games and games consoles themselves.
Posting on Bluesky, Circana analyst Mat Piscatella suggested that the increased cost to import physical goods from Mexico, which is where the vast majority of discs for North American physical games are produced, could see publishers move further away from physical games.
In response to Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad noting that the 20% China tariff impacts on consoles and the 25% Mexico tariff will affect physical game manufacture, Piscatella noted: “Very small piece of all this, but it wouldn’t surprise me to see physical games that would be subject to tariffs simply not get made, with [publishers] moving to an all digital strategy. What a mess.”
While most big games are still released physically, numerous titles – in particular lower budget or indie titles – are released exclusively digitally.
Earlier this year, Avowed was released as a digital-only product. While there was a physical case in some game stores, the box contained a code for the digital version of the game, rather than a disc.
In February, the ESA shared a statement with VGC about the potential tariffs, warning they could impact millions of American consumers.
“Video games are one of the most popular and beloved forms of entertainment for Americans of all ages,” the ESA told VGC. “Tariffs on video game devices and related products would negatively impact hundreds of millions of Americans and would harm the industry’s significant contributions to the US economy. We look forward to working with the Administration and Congress to find ways to sustain the economic growth supported by our sector.”
Game preservationists have long argued that a move to a digital-only future will cause games to be lost forever if proper preservation measures aren’t put in place.
There are already scores of online-only titles that can no longer be played either due to their delisting or servers being shut down. In some cases, game discs serve only as physical entitlement keys to be able to play the digital version of the game, meaning if the digital store itself shuts down in the future the disc will become useless.
