Hey everyone 👋 here's a picture of me contemplating the juxtaposition of how excited I am that
REALM RUNNERS is 100% ready to go into full production with the grim reality of the bullshit tariffs that are affecting the entire world for the worse at the moment. As you can see, the grim side of the teeter-totter is taking over a liiiiitle bit more this week 💀
I appreciate your patience as we did pause on updating sooner hoping to have more concrete answers and solutions to move forward. But every time we made a plan to move forward, things got worse the next day. It is clear to us now that
it's more important to check-in more regularly than before as we navigate this situation so we are committed to doing that until we get this game to you. We appreciate your continued, excitement, patience, and understanding as we figure this out together. It's not easy.
Here are a few things I just want to highlight before I dive in with more updates:
- Realm Runners is being manufactured in China with our excellent partners Panda Game Manufacturing — they are 100% the real deal and the premiere tabletop game publisher in our eyes. We are proud to be working with them, their team is simply amazing, and their products are just the best in class. My heart not only goes out to all the creators and consumers affected, but excellent companies like Panda who are being equally rocked at the moment ❤️
- The current tariff on our game is at 145%. But it changes weekly, if not daily, at the moment. There is nothing predictable about tomorrow or the next day. And to be CRYSTAL CLEAR, we (Jason Furie and Skinner) are responsible to pay the tariff, and in turn, those costs can come back to you the consumer.
- There is no scenario where we could have gone to manufacturing quicker to avoid these unforeseen tariffs. We've been busting our butts daily to get this game out and on your table as soon as possible. The earliest we could have gone into production was 1 week before the bullshit "Liberation Day" and we made a conscious decision to hold one week to see if what was announced would affect us - and it did. So in a way we are all WAY better off not going into production at the moment as those tariffs would have been unavoidable and would have greatly affected us all financially. They may still...
- We've already paid for the game and our finger is just hovering over the "go into full production" button. Once the coast is clear, we will smash that button as hard as we can 💥
I'll detail next steps and expectations at the bottom of this update, but want to pause for a moment to celebrate a few things:
-
REALM RUNNERS is 100% complete and we are ready to go into full productions once either the coast is clear with the tariffs, or we see a reasonable path forward. This has been such a long and rewarding journey and it will show in the final product. The game looks stunning, and glorious on all accounts. I know it's a tease, but I can not wait to get this game to you all.
- In March, we finalized some final edits on the rulebook, game box, and the miniatures. We also sorted out all the legal markings, barcodes, and testing needed to get this game ready to sell in stores. The final lap! It all went smoothly and everything is ready to print.
- We took a few glamor shots of the prototype minis on the prototype boards. Take a look:
So what's next — where do we go from today?
At the moment we are on a temporary (2 week) pause on manufacturing that may extend to a month to see if this new tariff is a new normal or just an ignorant temper tantrum.
So before we start problem solving and eating these costs, we are giving this daily-changing situation a moment to breath, so expect another update soon to learn where we stand. We will be nothing but transparent with you all, please just remain kind and understanding as we navigate.
We are also working with Panda to explore some options revolving around short term storage solutions in China. This may allow us to go into production sooner, and then it's just a matter of when we ship the game instead of when we make the game. We are hopeful this shit storm will lesson or pass but it needs a little time.
I hesitate to get into the nitty gritty of what extra costs we may need to pass on when we send surveys, but brace for that as a possible outcome. We are willing to eat some of the costs, but it is impossible for us to take it all on at the current 145% tariff. This current rate is indie-creator killing. Small scale operations like us simply can't handle those numbers. Remember, the tariff is on the whole order including all our excess stock. So even if we have to pass on some of the tariff to the consumer, we (Jason Furie and Skinner) still need to cover the tariff on all the excess stock coming our way that amounts to tens of thousands of dollars we simply don't have.
Skinner and I are planning a livestream in the near future to give y'all a much needed human element so we can get some face-time with everyone 😘 We will try and make it fun and not just a doom and gloom session. I will bring the final prototype we have to show it off as well. You gotta see every inch of this game!
So stay tuned for more info on the livestream and our tariff situation as it develops.
Please just hang in there with us as we find the best path forward. We are not planning to cancel this game and hope to get it to you sooner than later.
Jason Furie & Skinner ❤️✌️🕊️
