NDP analyst predicts tariffs could have massive impact on physical video game production

Mat P💧iscatella, who lists themselves as an analyst at NDP who focuses on video games, has that he predicts that the anticipated American tariffs on Mexican imports would have a significant impact on physical game releases.

“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 thatꦫ production infrastructure is in Mexico,” 💝Piscatella states. “If they do get made, I expect higher prices both phys & dig.”

Further to this, he suggests t༒hat the MSRP on digital games may also increase in an attempt to keep parity with physicꩲal releases.

The current American administration has stated their intentions to slap from a number of countries across the w꧋orld, with special focus being put on Canada and Mexico. Currently, the only country in North America that produces Bluray discs is Mexico, which is where they are procured for most releases, not only in video games, but also for movies.

Piscatella also answers the question of whether or not production could be moved to the U.S., and if it would. “’Can’t that production just be moved to the US?’ With significant investment, sure. But annual US physical video game software spending is now half what it was in 2021 and declining rapidly.”

Note that, theoretically, this would only affect Bluray pricing. Switch cartridges are produced in Japan and wouldn’t directly be affected by tariffs as they are currently proposed. There are a lot of other unknowns here, and nothing is yet certain, but an increase in the price of physical releases for any reason doesn’t seem that outlandish. Some publishers and hardware manufacturers may see this as a good reason to push harder to digital-only releases, and many consumers won’t see the value in buying ꦡphysical anymore. It’s unlikely that physical releases will go away entirely, but you may be paying more for them in the future.