by W. Eric Martin

The Origins Game Fair 2025 Preview, such as it is, is now live on BoardGameGeek.

I say "such as it is" as I've received only two dozen surveys from publishers at this point. Perhaps folks are still waiting to see which games will show up in time and what they'll have to pay in tariffs before deciding whether to cough it up or burn down the port.

Or maybe they're waiting to see what they have left in stock to work with. I've noticed many publishers marketing hugely discounted games since large U.S. tariffs on goods originating in China were announced in early April 2025, presumably to get cash on hand to pay for these unanticipated tariffs or to pay for staff and other expenses while game production is on hold.

Renegade Game Studios also made the interesting choice to alert people that prices on Heroscape titles and a few other games due out in Q3 2025 would increase, but anyone who pre-ordered before May 5 would be charged the pre-tariff price. That's a clever way to lock in sales — even if you only break even, at least you won't be stuck with merchandise in the warehouse.

One-third of the titles on this preview are "demo only", which seems like a lot, but which is also on par for Origins past. Booths are far cheaper at Origins than at Gen Con, so publishers can more easily justify the "marketing cost" for a future release.

If you're a publisher demoing or selling new games at Origins 2025, feel free to click the "how to add your titles" link in the header of this preview to submit your information.