This morning's announcement that Nintendo slows down the American performances for the Switch 2, immediately increased the striking of the proposed widespread import rates of President Trump for millions of American Nintendo fans. Moreover, the Entertainment Software Association – a lobby group that represents the interests of the game industry in Washington – warns that the effects of Trump's rates on the gaming world do not stop with Nintendo.
“There are so many devices that we play video games about,” said ESA Senior Vice President Aubrey Quinn in an interview with IGN, just when Nintendo's pre -order Delay News broke. “There are other consoles … VR headsets, our smartphones, people who love PC games; if we think it's only the switch, we don't take it seriously.
“This is company-agent, this is a whole industry,” she continued. “There will be an impact on the entire industry.”
Although Trump's rate proposal includes a 10 percent tax on imports from almost every country, it also includes a rate of 46 percent on Vietnam and a total rate of 54 percent on China, the two countries where the most console hardware is produced. Quinn told IGN that it is “difficult to imagine a world where such rates have no influence on the price” for those consoles.
More than that, however, Quinn warns that enormous rates would reject general consumer expenditure, which would have precipitation effects for the income of the game industry, employment and investments in research and development.
“Videoga consoles are sold under tight margins to reduce the accession threshold for consumers”, the ESA notes in its issue page about rates. “Rates mean that the extra costs would be passed on to consumers, resulting in a wrinkle effect of damage to industry and the jobs it generates and supports.
Not just a foreign problem
The negative effects would not be limited to foreign companies such as Nintendo, Quinn warned, because “even in American companies get products that have to cross to American boundaries to make those consoles, to make those games. And so there will be a real impact, regardless of the company.”
