May 7, 2025· 47 min

The Tariff Buzzsaw Is Coming For Hardcore Gamers

Orality
Model
85%
Highly oral (epic poetry, sermons, hip-hop)

Speaker Breakdown

HostTracy Alloway(1,807 words)
M:28%
HostJoe Weisenthal(1,080 words)
M:29%
GuestStephen Burke(5,378 words)
M:28%

Oral Indicators

Agonistic29%
obviously, totally, basically
Engagement60%
you, our, your
Memory Aids100%
listen, so, like
Repetition100%
they (117x), like (81x), about (66x)
Parallelism99%
So have you heard the story ab..., And I'm Tracy Alloway...., And less about the potential f...
Sound Patterns60%
54 question(s), alliteration: "markets move", alliteration: "barclays brief"
Formulaic Phrases2%
i mean

Literate Indicators

Hedging6%
quite, could, maybe
Passive Voice6%
be shipped, was when, were worried
Abstract Nouns20%
investment, prescription, medication
Subordination9%
because, though, whereas
Sentence Length38%
Avg: 14.5 words/sentence
Word Complexity48%
investment, analyze, anticipate
Academic Markers0%
Impersonal Style40%
539 personal pronouns found
Descriptive Style100%
automatically, family, obviously

Description

Every industry is going to be affected by the trade war in different ways. In many cases, we don't know how it's going to play out. Other industries are seeing an immediate impact. Companies that specialize in computer gaming are highly reliant on inputs from China and other East Asian countries. These companies assemble customized gaming rigs and other peripherals (cameras, chairs, controllers, speakers etc.). On this episode, we're joined by Stephen Burke, the founder of Gamers Nexus, a publication and YouTube channel that primarily exists to review products in this space. When the tariffs were announced in early April, he immediately set out to film a documentary titled The Death of Affordable Computing. In that 3-hour video, he talked to numerous players in the space on their profit margins, and how they will be hurt by the changing trade policy. We speak to Steve about this industry, and what he learned about what tariffs will do to both their profitability, or even their viability as ongoing businesses. Read more: Microsoft Raises Xbox and Game Prices, Citing Rising Costs Amazon, Apple Earnings Show Tariffs Are Coming for Big Tech, Too Only http://Bloomberg.com subscribers can get the Odd Lots newsletter in their inbox each week, plus unlimited access to the site and app. Subscribe at  bloomberg.com/subscriptions/oddlots See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.