Cephalofair Games, and other board game publishers like it, are in dire straits thanks to Trump administration trade tariffs, which could have a catastrophic impact on the entire board game industry.
In an interview with CNN last week, Cephalofair Games COO Price Johnson shared some bad news about the second edition of the hit dungeon crawler board game Gloomhaven, which is now on hold due to the tariffs.
Johnson explained that tariffs have dramatically increased Cephalofair Games's costs, stating, "We've essentially been told to cease our US sales indefinitely, at least until things settle and we have confidence again in the market."
Unfortunately, this means there's no telling when Gloomhaven: Second Edition, or any other Cephalofair Games products, will make it to the United States. It isn't helping that the state of tariffs seems to be in a constant state of flux.
As Johnson explained, "The story keeps changing, so we can't plan around that. Right now I couldn't tell you what our pricing in the United States would need to be to make our products viable because it changes every other day."
Moving Gloomhaven printing and manufacturing to the US would not be simple. The reality is that the US simply does not have the same level of manufacturing infrastructure that China has. It would take years for the US to expand its manufacturing capacity, and that's time that Cephalofair Games, and countless other small and medium-sized businesses, don't have.
Price Johnson explained that his company has searched for domestic options, but can't find anything in the US that could meet their needs. For instance, Johnson said even if he just wanted to print a hardcover book in the US, "My cost goes to three or four times [what it would cost in China] before I even have that product in hand."
Cephalofair Games isn't the only publisher facing this issue. It's impacting the entire board game publishing industry, which means other upcoming games could get stuck in limbo like Gloomhaven: Second Edition.
Johnson laid out the dire state of the industry, commenting, "We have entire industries, like the board game publishing industry, that [have] been brought to a complete stand-still. I'm in a group of about 60 publishers, all of whom are having to cease production. We're all collaborating to find creative options, domestic options. We're vetting them, and there's no solutions right now."
As if an indefinite pause on games wasn't bad enough, tariffs could have a ripple effect on independent game stores all over the country.
"Our products are no longer retail viable," said Johnson, "so all the brick-and-mortar, mom-and-pop shops of which we work with, over 600 mom-and-pop independently-owned toy stores, comic book stores, game stores, they're not getting our product. Their shelves are gonna be empty. They're all facing foreclosures, bankruptcies."
These stores are often beloved local hubs for gaming groups, where fans of TCGs, RPGs, and board games can meet up and discover new games. We lose a vital pillar of the gaming community when those stores have to close down.
So, Gloomhaven: Second Edition going into the deep freeze isn't just bad news for fans of the game—it's a canary in the coal mine for the drastic impact tariffs could have on the gaming industry.
As a fan of board games and TTRPGs, I can only hope publishers like Cephalofair Games can find a way to survive the tariff turmoil because it would be sad to see this industry crumble in the US.
