New trade tariffs imposed by US president Donald Trump “are going to have a real and detrimental impact” on the video games industry, according to the Entertainment Software Association (ESA).Speaking with Stephen Totilo in the Game File newsletter, Aubrey Quinn, Senior Vice President of the ESA, said that the tariffs could see gaming hardware such as consoles taking a major hit, due to the fact key manufacturing parts are often sourced fro multiple regions. Any one product that a consumer would buy is likely to be subject to many of the tariffs announced, all compounded on top of one another. I think what we heard yesterday is not the end of the story, not for the United States, not for other countries.Related Content — Upcoming PS5 Games 2025: The Best PS5 Games Coming Soon I think every company, every industry, the video game industry included, needs to think about what’s best for consumers, best for business, and best for employees. Supply chains are complicated and, certainly, supply chains don’t change overnight. Everything that is considered or decided can’t be a quick turnaround and can’t be a knee-jerk reaction to any particular announcement.Among the countries affected by Trump’s tariffs include China, which is a major manufacturing zone for many tech products. In addition, the US president imposed a blanket 10% tariff on all imports, with China, Vietnam and Japan seeing tariffs of 54%, 46% and 24%, respectively, which Trump has labelled among “the worst offenders.” Back in March, Mat Piscatella of Circana stated that he believes physical game releases could be impacted by Trump’s newly-imposed tariffs, with Mexico and China both being major regions responsible for the manufacturing of disc-based game releases. [Source – Game File via VGC]
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Trump Tariffs Will ‘Have A Real And Detrimental Impact On The Video Game Industry,’ Warns ESA
