In a short post, CMON says it won’t develop any more games until ‘trade conditions stabilise’ and they’ve reduced the size of all their creative teams.
The problem? Trump’s tariffs. The USA is making it more expensive for Americans to buy imports, especially from China.
The news follows the closure of Greater Than Games for the same reason: millions of dollars of games stuck in China, and Stonemaier Games trying to take legal action against the tariffs.
CMON wrote:
Our CMON community means a lot to us, so we felt it was important to share with you some difficult decisions at our company today. Given global conditions, and most notably the situation with tariffs, CMON has decided to focus on our current commitments to our customers and partners, and prioritize the timely delivery of existing projects. So effective immediately, we will be pausing all future game development and new crowdfunding campaigns until trade conditions have stabilized.
Unfortunately, this involves extremely difficult staffing decisions, affecting all of our creative teams with reductions. We did not make this choice lightly, and our thoughts are with everyone impacted. We are incredibly grateful for their roles in our success over the years, and these talented people will be missed both professionally and personally.
The industry continues to rapidly evolve, and unpredictable situations like the recent tariffs, or COVID just a few years ago, present challenges for everyone in board games. With that said, it is our responsibility to take these difficult measures to ensure that we can keep current projects on track and deliver them in a timely manner. We will of course resume new development as soon as possible.
Please rest assured that these decisions will help ensure that we keep our commitments to our backers, partners, and community.
Is there hope?
News reports quote China as saying that there have been no talks between them and the Trump administration. The manufacturing giant is prepared to talk to the Americans again if the USA backs down and cancels tariffs. Is that likely? Who knows, as there barely seems to be a plan, but some outlets are reporting that the US President is considering a climb down.
