The tabletop gaming world is facing significant turbulence as recent U.S. tariff increases on goods imported from China begin to take effect. Leading the charge is Cephalofair Games, the publisher of the massively popular Gloomhaven series, reporting a staggering $1.2 million worth of games, equivalent to 25 shipping containers or roughly 60,000 units, currently stranded in China due to the inability to be shipped to the US market under the current tariff regime.
The publisher has been publishing updates on their blog. They noted;
Thank you for your time, understanding, and support over all these years. We intend to fight like hell and utilize every tool at our disposal to maintain our obligations to our backers, our employees, and our families.”
In a recent interview with CNN, Cephalofair COO Price Johnson painted a stark picture of the situation, which casts doubt on the planned May 2025 retail release of Gloomhaven 2E in the US.
We’ve essentially been told to cease our U.S. sales indefinitely, at least until things settle and we have confidence again in the market,”
Johnson stated. The volatility makes business planning impossible:
Right now, I couldn’t tell you what our pricing would even need to be in the United States to make our products viable because it changes every other day.”
Addressing the possibility of shifting production domestically, Johnson expressed support for developing US manufacturing capabilities but confirmed that viable options don’t currently exist for Cephalofair’s highly specialised needs.
We partner with manufacturers that have grown to know our product over 10 years that have entirely custom machinery, materials and raw materials… It’s a 100% custom product,” he explained, highlighting the difficulty in replicating their established production chain elsewhere.
Cephalofair isn’t alone in facing this challenge. Other prominent publishers are warning about impending price hikes for consumers. Japanime Games communicated to its customers that price increases are inevitable to compensate for the drastically higher costs. In an article at ICv2, President Eric Price illustrated the impact with stark numbers: a 145% tariff on a $100,000 production run means an additional $145,000 must be paid to the US government upon import, which increases the total cost to $245,000 before considering other expenses.2 Japanime is exploring options like a specific “tariff surcharge.”
Similarly, Arcane Wonders President Robert Geistlinger warned customers in an article for BoardGameWire.com that price increases are unavoidable.
With the current tariffs on our products set at a rate of 145% we simply cannot bring those games from our manufacturers to the USA without a steep increase in prices,”
While unable to specify the exact price adjustments or the effect on future game releases yet, he stated plainly, “we simply cannot absorb these hikes in our costs without raising our prices.” He urged customers interested in their current stock to purchase now “before prices go up.”
The situation highlights the vulnerability of the tabletop industry’s global supply chain to geopolitical and economic shifts. For gamers, the immediate consequence is the likelihood of significantly higher price tags on imported games and potential delays or even cancellations for anticipated releases as publishers grapple with the financial implications of these steep tariffs.
