Analyst: Tariffs Could Increase Game Prices and Decrease Number of Physical Games in the US - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 21 January 2025 / 2,459 Views
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.
More Articles
Trump is going to ruin everything
Well. The USA did democratically ask for this.
America is a joke
The US has always had an 'us vs them' mentality. You make your bed and sleep in it.
To be fair, it was probably very reasonable and even lucrative hundreds of years ago. The world has evolved since though, but the US doesn't want to.
Americans voted for this. I guess they felt they were paying too little 🤡
Most of the population of the South and Midwest pines for a return to the 1950s, a time when the U.S. dominated manufacturing. They don't understand that the reason for that was because Europe and Asia were still in smoldering ruins from WWII and the Chinese Civil War, while Africa was struggling under the yoke of European imperialism. Those factors are no longer in play.
This goes perfectly in line as the PS6 and the Next Xbox will most likley be digital only anyway. But i am sure they play games natively through downloaded SW. Only Nintendo will be physical...
I wonder if the demand for physical games on PS5 and Xbox Series would be higher, if you could directly play the games from the disc without installing...
i would say yes. The demand for physical games would definitely be higher. Many people see no point on physical media that has to be installed anyway.
This is going to move the needle on digital even more than Game Pass.
i guess its time for countries to develop their own systems and games instead of depending on america or japan for everything, then they can control their own pricing
This is sad
While this won't affect Sony all that much
Microsoft is already struggling with a lack of sales at it's current price, and I'm seeing a lot of people say they will just turn to piracy for nintendo
Essay Pro