The Business: Outside Forces Compelling Change On Tabletop (Part 1)

The collapse that has come to Tabletop came from outside Conventional Play. It came in the form of an economic shockwave from a party far more powerful than any actor in the whole of the Entertainment business, one formented and unleashed to deal with geopolitical threats that are also far more powerful than the entire Entertainment business.

That is ongoing.

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— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 4, 2025

This took all of the already extant issues in Tabletop--the WOTC problem, incompetent retail, delusional non-competitors thinking they matter, etc.--and forced the issue out into the open. Rather than wait for WOTC to yank the pillar propping it all up out from under them, People That Actually Matter did the Old God thing and made moves so sweeping in scope and scale that Tabletop doesn't even come into the question of consideration.

Those moves are killing luxury consumption, and with it luxury commercial operations. That means Conventional Play. It doesn't have to happen instantly to be happening; you folks should be smart enough to know that there is a lag time between Cause and Effect, and we are now in that lag time. Even so, we already have Effects manifesting:

• Boardlandia dead.
• Greater Than Games dead.
• Final Frontier dead.
• CMON dying.
• Steve Jackson Games wrecked.

Boardgames are hit first due to the widgets, boards, etc. and the habit of these twits printing in China meaning that the tariffs nailed them good and hard right away. Other forms of Tabletop will vary in how they are damaged, but they will be damaged; what matters right now is the capacity to avoid (if small enough) or tank (if large enough) the damage.

Because Tabletop is not a mission-critical element of American soft power, and thus not a National Security concern, there is no aid coming for it. All you slop merchants get to eat shit and like it.

But you folks who are Coffee Table Art Book publishers in denial are not out of the woods, not after Canada's election and the retention (and retrenchment) of the Clown World Regime in Ottawa and with it a substantial amount of paper imported into the United States- that can be subjected to export controls, and the incoming government is signalling that such things are on the table. TLDR: Expect your costs to go up a lot too.

Note that DriveThru has already adjusted once. It can and will again. This means that the pain increases for everyone that can't dodge or tank the damage, and more of you are going to go under due to forces far beyond your control. There is no bitching, no whining, no lobbying, no lawfare--LOL at that boardgame wanker saying they can do it--no action at all that any of you can take to avoid this- and that includes passing costs on downstream.

You designers and publishers won't be able to beg your way out either; the loss of luxury spending includes the loss of crowdfunding revenue, which not only has to compete with everyday expenses but also with far more important things to support. Tabletop Adventure Games, being not only a luxury good, but also one of the longest-wearing durable luxury entertainment goods ever, are so down the list of Things To Spend Money On that if you still think there's a viable future here you're delusional.

"But the market-"

DOES NOT EXIST!

Economics are political, not market-driven; Friedrick List made that clear in the 19th century, and events since then have proven him right time and again. Economics are rooted in the execution of the duties and prerogatives of the Sovereign, from which all else flows; anyone that went to Business School and tells you otherwise is a bald-faced liar- one need only watch Perun's videos, and follow all those trillions of spending, to see rivers of receipts in real time flowing downstream.

You. Are. Not. Important.

You are wholly disposable, expendable, and fungible. The Colony Drop has already occured and some of you still are in denial as to what's happening. Don't think Retail will save you either- that's Part 2.