Steve Jackson Games Sends Out Panic-Driven E-mail On Tariffs: "It Means Closing Down Entirely"

Tabletop gaming is in an absolute panic over President Trump’s tariffs, and now the leftist virtue-signaling Steve Jackson Games has issued a statement as they admit they’ve been using Chinese slave labor for the production of their games.

The board gaming industry is in a complete meltdown over tariffs. Most of these companies use cheap Asian labor to produce components such as cardboard tokens, miniatures, cards, and more for their games, exploiting the sweatshop labor for their products. Profit margins are thin for gaming, even with Kickstarters and the like making hundreds of thousands of dollars gross on a lot of these games, and so the tariffs threaten their business models based on what they currently charge for games.

We’ve seen leftist board game designer Eric Lang get salty when called out on using such slave labor, and Stonemaier Games issue a panic-driven statement about their games. Now, Steve Jackson Games has joined the fray with a warning to customers from their CEO after years of virtue signaling for leftist politics.

In a mailer sent to fans and customers, the CEO wrote a political rant:

An Important Message From Our CEO Meredith Placko

On April 5th, a 54% tariff goes into effect on a wide range of goods imported from China. For those of us who create boardgames, this is not just a policy change. It's a seismic shift.

At Steve Jackson Games, we are actively assessing what this means for our products, our pricing, and our future plans. We do know that we can't absorb this kind of cost increase without raising prices. We've done our best over the past few years to shield players and retailers from the full brunt of rising freight costs and other increases, but this new tax changes the equation entirely.

Here are the numbers: A product we might have manufactured in China for $3.00 last year could now cost $4.62 before we even ship it across the ocean. Add freight, warehousing, fulfillment, and distribution margins, and that once-$25 game quickly becomes a $40 product. That's not a luxury upcharge; it's survival math.

Some people ask, "Why not manufacture in the U.S.?" I wish we could. But the infrastructure to support full-scale boardgame production – specialty dice making, die-cutting, custom plastic and wood components – doesn't meaningfully exist here yet. I've gotten quotes. I've talked to factories. Even when the willingness is there, the equipment, labor, and timelines simply aren't.

We aren't the only company facing this challenge. The entire board game industry is having very difficult conversations right now. For some, this might mean simplifying products or delaying launches. For others, it might mean walking away from titles that are no longer economically viable. And, for what I fear will be too many, it means closing down entirely.

Tariffs, when part of a long-term strategy to bolster domestic manufacturing, can be an effective tool. But that only works when there's a plan to build up the industries needed to take over production. There is no national plan in place to support manufacturing for the types of products we make. This isn't about steel and semiconductors. This is about paper goods, chipboard, wood tokens, plastic trays, and color-matched ink. These new tariffs are imposing huge costs without providing alternatives, and it's going to cost American consumers more at every level of the supply chain.

We want to be transparent with our community. This is real: Prices are going up. We're still determining how much and where.

If you're frustrated, you're not alone. We are too. And if you want to help, write to your elected officials. You can find your representative and senators' contact information at house.gov and senate.gov. Ask them how these new policies help American creators and small businesses. Because right now, it feels like they don't.

We'll keep making games. But we'll be honest when the road gets harder, because we know you care about where your games come from – and about the people who make them.

The company is prone to be wading into politics already, as a couple of years ago Steve Jackson himself also took to his official game blog on his website to rant about Roe v. Wade, saying, “I'm worried. I mean, personally worried. I am white, male, reasonably well off, straight, and old, and I am threatened by this Supreme Court. I can only imagine how others less privileged must feel.”

For all the ranting about the “privileged,” it seems that when they can’t use their slave labor from foreign nations, they go into abject panic. All of the talk about rights and equality means nothing when it comes to their bottom lines, and this is a mask-off moment for this entire politically-obsessed industry where they’ve tried to force their extreme leftism onto board gamers for nearly a decade.

One wonders if any of these companies will reflect on what they claimed were their core values, and actually try to shift away from exploiting the poor in other countries.

What do you think of Steve Jackson Games ranting about tariffs in an email blast? Leave a comment and let us know.

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