For this reason, the second edition of Gloomhaven will be postponed indefinitely, as it is not worth it for the publisher at this time…
Cephalofair Games and other board game publishers like it are in a difficult position due to the Trump administration’s trade tariffs, which could have disastrous effects on the entire board game industry. In an interview with CNN, Cephalofair Games CEO Price Johnson shared some bad news about the second release of its successful dungeon crawler board game, Gloomhaven, which now appears to be unfeasible due to the tariffs. Johnson said the tariffs have dramatically increased Cephalofair Games’ costs.
“We’ve essentially been told to shut down our US sales indefinitely, at least until things settle down and we have confidence in the market again. The story keeps changing, so we can’t plan around that. Right now I couldn’t tell you what our pricing in the United States would have to be to make our products viable because it changes every other day. If I just want to print a hardcover book in the United States, my cost is going to be three or four times what it would be in China before I even have that product in my hands.
We have entire industries, like the board game publishing industry, that [have] completely shut down. I’m part of a group of about 60 publishers who are all having to stop production. We’re all working together to find creative options, domestic options. We’re looking at them, and there are no solutions right now. Our products are no longer retail viable, so all of the brick and mortar, mom and pop stores that we work with, over 600 mom and pop independently owned toy stores, comic book stores, game stores, they’re not going to get our product. Their shelves are gonna be bare. They’re all facing foreclosure, bankruptcy,” Johnson said.
Moving the printing and production of Gloomhaven to the United States would not be easy. The reality is that America simply does not have the manufacturing infrastructure that China has. It would take years to build up manufacturing capacity in this country, and that is time that Cephalofair Games and countless other small and medium sized businesses do not have.
This certainly puts many sectors of the country in a difficult position…
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