Executive Director & Video Game Industry Analyst at Circana Mat Piscatella has suggested the proposed tariff on imports from Mexico to the US could lead to increase game prices and a decrease in the number of physical games sold in the US.
“With 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico on the way, I can see a sharp downtick in the number of disc-based games that get released physically in the US, as much of that production infrastructure is in Mexico,” said Piscatella. “If they do get made, I expect higher prices both [physical and digital].
“I would, were this to happen, anticipate digital MSRPs to increase to remain at price parity with physical, but who knows. In any case, none of this is good for the physical video game market.”
He added that “with significant investment” it would be possible to move production to the US. However, “annual US physical video game software spending is now half what it was in 2021 and declining rapidly. And this also wouldn’t help when it comes to costs.”
Alright, well, video games.
With 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico on the way, I can see a sharp downtick in the number of disc-based games that get released physically in the US, as much of that production infrastructure is in Mexico.
If they do get made, I expect higher prices both phys & dig.
— Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) January 21, 2025 at 9:38 AM
A life-long and avid gamer, William D’Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.
Full Article – https://www.vgchartz.com/article/463726/analyst-tariffs-could-increase-game-prices-and-decrease-number-of-physical-games-in-the-us/
