The title said “Industry” but the article reads like someone has an axe to grind with a couple specific companies.
It opens with a pre-rebuttal to critics who pointed out that they got some facts wrong the first time they published it, arguing that it doesn’t change a thing. Not encouraging for all of the rest of the bold claims in the article.
I couldn’t even finish the article through the smug editorialization.
This feels like another case of hobby drama where a smaller player wants to take pot shots at bigger players going through tough times. Kick them while they’re down and get some clicks out of it.
If you scroll down to the bottom it appears that the author is trying to sell a book about how to be successful in the board game industry, so that's the motivation, I guess.
Given that the whole article seems to be based on the premise "the ruinously-high tariffs don't apply if you just change the product category to this other number, and this file on some government website proves it" and all the replies are people who actually import stuff explaining that the file is out of date and the tariffs do actually apply, I think I'll give the book a pass.
I get the tone. A lot of guys who lose a lot of other people's money try to spin a story of incompetence and/or laziness into a story of misfortune and tragedy. The tragedy is yours, of course, because they lost your money.
There have been kickstarter rug-pulls well before the pandemic. The gaming industry at large, including video gaming, seems to be particularly prone to these scams
The whole thing, including viral blog post drama like this, seems rooted in fandom. Why pre-order any of this junk sight unseen? Why is this particular box of glossy cardstock considered an investment worth risking any amount of money on?
Fan subcultures seem ripe areas for grift like this where expectations can get so far ahead of reality.
And that 20% tarrif is on the cardboard and plastic, which for games like Gloomhaben is a pittance of the retail cost that includes paying back design, customer support, marketing (including dize), etc.
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[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 28.7 ms ] threadIt opens with a pre-rebuttal to critics who pointed out that they got some facts wrong the first time they published it, arguing that it doesn’t change a thing. Not encouraging for all of the rest of the bold claims in the article.
I couldn’t even finish the article through the smug editorialization.
This feels like another case of hobby drama where a smaller player wants to take pot shots at bigger players going through tough times. Kick them while they’re down and get some clicks out of it.
Given that the whole article seems to be based on the premise "the ruinously-high tariffs don't apply if you just change the product category to this other number, and this file on some government website proves it" and all the replies are people who actually import stuff explaining that the file is out of date and the tariffs do actually apply, I think I'll give the book a pass.
1) The board game community is largely agreed that Final Frontier is responsible for its own problems. This isn't a surprise to anybody.
2) Afaik and from what I could find, the 125% are baseline blanket tariffs on everything from China. And up to 245% depends on what kind of goods.
The whole thing, including viral blog post drama like this, seems rooted in fandom. Why pre-order any of this junk sight unseen? Why is this particular box of glossy cardstock considered an investment worth risking any amount of money on?
Fan subcultures seem ripe areas for grift like this where expectations can get so far ahead of reality.
It may actually hit the retailer by 1 or 2%