Impact of Tariffs and Current Economy Will Have Long-Term Effects on the Gaming Industry – Analyst
With major games like Mario Kart World being priced at $80, the hotly-anticipated Grand Theft Auto 6 being expected to have a higher price tag than the current standard of $70, and even the $449.99 launch price for the Nintendo Switch 2, Circana analyst Mat Piscatella believes that the gaming industry is currently in “unprecedented territory”.
In an interview with GamesRadar, Piscatella spoke about how, while there are quite a few highly-anticipated games coming out in 2025, the economic realities of the modern world might present an issue when it comes to the success of upcoming games. According to Piscatella, the buying power in the market is currently on a downturn, especially with the tariffs being introduced by the US for imported goods. This would put things like consoles, and even their accessories, at risk.
“I think folks want to be optimistic about things like Switch 2 and GTA 6 coming into the market,” Piscatella said, “but this looming cloud of tariffs and the impact and what’s happening on the trade side of things, and how that might impact products like accessories and hardware and that type of thing, it’s just, no matter what industry you’re looking at, you’re looking at this stuff going, okay, what happens next?”
According to Piscatella, the gaming industry is trying to predict how the market will shape up with “contingency planning” and “trying to read the tea leaves.” He said that companies are trying to figure out the best way to move forward when the layout of the tariffs has been a little bit chaotic and hard to predict, to say the least.”
“People are just kind of waiting and seeing what’s happening and trying to plan accordingly, but hopeful that, with Switch 2, with GTA 6, when it comes to the tariffs, the increased presence of digital – which wouldn’t be subject to those tariffs, at least not at this stage – lessens those kinds of burns a little bit. But everyone’s still nervous, right?”
With inflation in the US on the rise due to the knock-on effect of the country’s recent tariffs, Piscatella also spoke about how the gaming industry will not be immune to its effects.
“If things like groceries get a lot more expensive, or other everyday, essential categories get more expensive, then consumers are really going to have to pick and choose,” he explained. “And you know, are you going to pick food, or are you going to pick a new game? For most people, they’ll pick the food. But you know, we have some dedicated players that could pick a game and eat Top Ramen. Who the hell knows? But anyways, long-winded answer, I think everyone’s just kind of waiting and seeing and trying to prepare for what may come next.”
He continued, “there’s immense pressure on the market. And if you throw in things like a recession or higher prices on groceries and all this other stuff, I think it gets nasty.”
“People talk about the competition thing and what’s the biggest competition for Switch 2. And I don’t know, I think the biggest competition for Switch 2 is going to be Switch 2 supply and the tariffs, but we’ll see what happens.”
For its part, Nintendo had also been keenly aware of how the tariffs would impact the price of the Switch 2. Earlier in April, the company had decided to delay pre-orders for the console in order to see how things would play out. It did, however, eventually open pre-orders up in Canada and the US. The console is slated to hit store shelves on June 5.
