The Trump Administration is currently weighing possible new tariffs that would affect tech goods like video game consoles, sources tell Politico.
The video games industry could face another wave of uncertainty and disruption if certain new trade policies come to pass. Reports indicate that the White House is currently considering a tariff plan that is said to affect a wide web of products from video game consoles to laptops, impacting not only the chips and components required to make the devices, but the actual products themselves.
Popular Now: DLSS 5 has been modded into Skyrim, and it definitely transforms character facesTariffs have adversely impacted the sensitive supply chains of video game console production, complicating import and shipping costs and logistics. Companies are also facing severe supply shortages thanks to AI datacenters that require the same storage and memory as games consoles, driving up manufacturing costs. This is why the Xbox Series X now costs $800, and why the PS5 Pro costs $900. The anticipation of the tariffs also determined pricing, though, as Nintendo was said to price its Switch 2 at $450 to help insulate profit against tariff impacts.
In February 2025, before the tariffs were initially introduced, the Big 3, as well as the wider Entertainment Software Association (ESA), all came together and penned a note directly to the Trump Administration to warn about tariff impacts.
As a result of these disruptions--and others--, the video games industry has faced a significant paring back throughout the last two years as companies cut their spending. This led to mass layoffs and an overall major reduction in the wider games industry workforce, at least in traditional Western games companies.
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This volatility makes planning for the next generation of consoles extremely difficult, forcing companies to make strong and dramatic decisions about the future in an attempt to anticipate the effects of what seems to be unpredictable trade decisions.
