Ever since President Trump's administration set a 25% tariff on goods imported from China, US gamers have worried about the impact on the prices of consoles and gaming hardware. As we all know , most modern consoles are made (at least in part) in China, which means their prices could be affected by the tariff mentioned above.
However, three major console manufacturers, Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo, recently decided to unite and oppose this tariff. They wrote a letter to the United States trade representative in which they explained in detail why this tariff would be very damaging to the gaming industry and the economy in general.
“Video games are at the heart of American entertainment culture. Two in three households have at least one video game player, and 60% of Americans play video games daily. A 25% price increase will likely put a new video game console out of reach for many American families who we believe should be in the market for a console this holiday season. "
In addition, according to the letter, 96% of all video game consoles imported into the United States were made in China. This means that the tariff will have a big impact on the prices of the next generation of consoles. This means that PlayStation 5, Xbox Scarlett, and the new Switch models will all be priced much higher than originally anticipated. Fortunately, there's still a little over a year left until the next generation of consoles hits the market, and we're hoping that tariff will be revisited by then.
