In a new report published by the Consumer Technology Association, Trump’s dastardly tariffs were explored at length. The report, pieced together by Trade Partnership Worldwide, reiterated concerns that consumer spending will plummet, as will the economic output of the United States, and it’s all thanks to the export tariffs imposed last month.
The report is effectively a ‘worst-case scenario’ type of document that envisions a world where all the proposed tariffs come into effect, impacting consumers to the max and wreaking havoc on the U.S. financial ecosystem.
It revealed one potentially devastating figure for gamers.
Not So Nice
The recent report that surfaced on the Consumer Technology Association platform (and found its way to us via Tom’s Hardware) has drastic implications for the future of gaming.
It was revealed through analyst estimations that the ‘technology area’ that could be hit the hardest is video game consoles. It was predicted that, should all tariffs be enacted, we’ll see an increase of up to 69.4% on hardware, bringing about an average retail cost increase of a whopping $428.
The next heaviest area to be impacted is laptops and tablets, predicted to suffer from a 34% increase. That vertical is followed closely behind by monitors, with a potential increase of 31.8%, and then smartphones, with an estimated 30.8% increase looming over the market.
Trade Partnership Worldwide has suggested that the United States could lose $12 billion in consumer spending due to the higher prices of video game consoles. In total, it’s expected that a staggering sum of $69 billion could be sliced off the consumer spending cap.
Unfortunately, these tariffs target China the heaviest, and that’s where 87% of video game consoles come from.
Recently, Microsoft announced sharp price increases across the board in the Xbox space, pushing up the tags associated with all Xbox hardware, peripherals, and first-party software. The sizable increases came as a surprise to gamers everywhere, especially at this stage in the Xbox Series’ lifecycle.
Are you looking forward to spending 69% more on video game hardware if all these tariffs come into play? Let me know on the Insider Gaming forum what you think about all this.
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Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
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