Trump's Tariffs May Impact Console Sales, Says CEO Of GTA Parent Company

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has very good reasons to feel bullish this year, as his company is poised to release potential blockbusters like Grand Theft Auto 6 and Mafia: The Old Country However, the prospect of President Donald Trump's proposed tariffs has cast a pall over the video game industry. During a recent interview, Zelnick noted that he's not afraid of the tariffs hurting game sales, but video game consoles may not be as lucky.

"I'm not sure it would affect physical discs," Zelnick told VentureBeat. "I do think the tariffs could be a negative for console sales. As an economist, I'm not a big fan of trade wars. I do think there are moments where tariffs make sense. I'm encouraged by the pause in Mexico and Canada. But I'm a free trader so generally speaking I don't think tariffs are the right way to build or tax an economy."

As mentioned by Zelnick, the tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada were paused for 30 days--but not canceled. Additionally, Trump has already ordered a 10% tariff increase on goods from China on top of the tariffs that were already in place. In 2020, the video game industry successfully lobbied Trump to exclude it from his planned tariffs. No such guarantee exists this time.

The Entertainment Software Association recently shared a statement warning that the impact of Trump's tariffs could devastate video game sales and urged the President to work with the industry to find a better solution. Circana analyst Mat Piscatella has also warned of a significant drop in physical game discs brought in from Mexico if the proposed tariffs on that country go through. There's also the very real possibility that any additional tariffs will spike the prices of both video games and consoles.