Reporting on the impact of the US-China tariffs on the tabletop gaming industry is an increasingly bleak job. Yesterday, I wrote about the creators of Wingspan feeling forced to try to "sue the president" to survive. Today, one of the most well-known companies in the industry is essentially going into standby mode until things improve.
You'll likely recognise CMON from either its hugely successful line of Zombicide games, more recent hit Marvel United, or one of its many lavish Kickstarters, including one where you could pledge for a plastic Galactus the size of a toddler. Older nerds might remember CMON as a website where people could post pictures of their Warhammer minis, but since 2012 it's been a huge presence in the world of board game publishing.
The question is how long a company like CMON can survive that. Up to now, it's run two to four multi-million dollar Kickstarter campaigns each year, and though it does still have a significant presence in retail stores, that's a huge chunk of income to lose, even for a short period. Regular crowdfunding has become the lifeblood of a significant portion of board game publishers—now that the risk and cost associated with such projects has become untenable, many other companies will be facing their own lose-lose scenarios.
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