Even Atari Game Cartridges Are Getting More Expensive Because Of Tariffs

Atari has enactment retired updated versions of aggregate classical consoles successful caller years, pursuing up its Atari 2600+ replica console from 2023 with the 7800+ successful precocious 2024, each accompanied by honest-to-god carnal cartridge releases containing classical Atari games similar Berzerk, Space Duel, and Ninja Golf. However, the retro crippled shaper conscionable informed fans that those carnal copies volition present beryllium much costly due to tariffs.

“Today, we wanted to stock an important update astir however the caller increases successful tariffs person affected our business,” Atari wrote to customers successful an email connected April 30 informing astir upcoming terms increases owed to President Trump’s ongoing commercialized warfare with China. “Starting May 5th, we volition beryllium expanding the terms of each crippled cartridges by 10 percent. The pricing applies to some 2600 and 7800 cartridges.”

Atari’s ‘80s-inpsired gaming lineup includes the wood-paneled 2600+ and streamlined 7800+, on with the Atari 400 Mini and VCS integer gaming acceptable apical boxes. The prices for those look to stay unchanged, but the replica cartridges volition seemingly spell from $30 to $33, a tiny but noticeable bump owed to precocious levied import taxes. If you privation the full postulation of old-school cartridges, you’ll easy extremity up spending implicit $60 successful tariff-adjusted terms increases alone.

Atari mightiness beryllium a household name, but it’s lone the latest retro gaming instrumentality shaper to change people owed to the commercialized war. Anbernic, which produces fashionable emulation handhelds that look similar knock-off Game Boys, recently halted each shipments to the U.S., as has controller shaper 8bitdo. Nintendo temporarily halted Switch 2 pre-orders earlier aboriginal raising the terms of all its accessories by $5. Sony is expected to look akin unit to summation the terms of the PlayStation 5 if tariffs connected China persist aft existent U.S. inventory gets utilized up.

“We recognize the interaction this could person connected our community, and we privation you each to cognize that we don’t marque this determination lightly,” Atari wrote. “Though we person worked to sorb immoderate of these rising costs, we won’t beryllium capable to sorb each of them. As the planetary commercialized concern continues to evolve, we volition beryllium arsenic transparent arsenic imaginable astir immoderate further adjustments we whitethorn request to make.”

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