This wasn’t a post I was expecting to write, but things at the moment are…not good.
Trade war tariffs are currently making the short term future of physical gaming products divebomb. Long term future of pretty much everything, including the gaming economy, is uncertain at best.
At worst, we’ll be dealing with the fallout of tariffs and this economic policy for years.
Tariffs, Games, and the Economy
One of my idols, Jamey Stegmaier at Stonemaier games has recently written a few posts about the negative impact of tariffs on the board game business. He’s not the only one.
In the gaming sphere we all love to play in, this is going to be painful going forward. Games are going to cost more to create, therefore cost more to consumers. People are going to spend less on games. Gaming companies will go out of business.
It’s painful on a gaming level, because we’re going to see great titles of games we love become unattainable.
More importantly though, people’s livelihoods are at stake, and my fear is that a lot of really good designers, publishers, and content creators are going to lose their job. It’s not just the gaming space that will be impacted. A lot of talented, skilled, and hard working people across the United States (where I live), and possibly beyond, could lose their jobs as well – no matter where they work.
I fear we are entering a very challenging time.
Previous Challenging Times
When COVID hit back in 2020, I took a step back from game design and publishing, to focus on my family’s health. Before I did, I asked myself – how can I help others in this moment?
My answer was to publish all the games I currently had playtest documents for. These games included three games I have since published – Dwarf Mine, Star Solo, and GridHack.
At the start of this year, I outlined my goals for 2025. One of these was to push forward with making Paper Dice Games a viable part time job for me, growing it from a small hobby design business.
I’m not sure that’s going to be viable going forward. We’ll have to wait and see.
Going Forward
I am not sure what to expect in the coming weeks and months.
For now, I am very fortunate, and hold a wonderful full time job that I feel secure at. I am also healthy, and so is everyone in my immediate family.
But things can change, and sometimes they can change quickly.
If we see a hard economic downturn, I hope I have the bandwidth to offer deep sales to my existing games, and release and update more free games as well.
If I personally become impacted through health changes, losing my job, or feeling my time is best spent working locally with political and community leaders, I may have to put my work with Paper Dice Games on pause. If this happens, I’ll be sure to let you know – most likely through a blog post.
Working Together
One of the best things we can do during challenging times, are help each other and work together.
For those of you who enjoy playing my games – or the games of other designers – stay tuned. Like I said above, if I have the bandwidth, I’ll be working on more free titles. For now, check out Star Solo and GridHack if you haven’t already.
For those of you in the gaming business – content creators, reviewers, designers, publishers – please reach out if you think there is something we can work on together. In the gaming economy, and especially the indie space, I believe a rising tide lifts all boats.
Well, if the tide is going out, sometimes the best we can do is lash our boats together and try to stay afloat while we wait for the tide to come back in.
Connect
Thank you for reading, and for your support. If you want to here about the games I make, and get great discounts and goodies, you can join the newsletter here or check out my Youtube channel here!
Thank you for being a fan of games. I’m hoping to continue designing for all of you.
Paper Dice Games 