We need to share an important update regarding US shipments of Age of Automaton (AoA).

First of all, we didn’t ship directly from China to the U.S. because AoA’s US order volume is relatively small, and the shipping cost would have been extremely high under that route. Instead, we followed our fulfillment partner’s recommendation by sending the stock to our worldwide hub in the UK first, and then forwarding it to the U.S.

Under this route, the tariff is calculated based on the retail value (selling price) instead of production cost. This results in approximately additional USD $29 per copy, which was unexpected for us as well.

To clarify, AoA was launched before the recent new tariff regulations were announced. Unfortunately, after the campaign, a new policy was introduced that now applies an additional 47.5% tariff on goods imported from China into the USA.

However, the routing we chose could still be the best way to ship to backers in the U.S. because shipping directly from China to the USA in relatively small orders would actually cost more than the tariff itself.

For the moment, we have decided to hold all US-bound AoA copies at our UK hub while we work to find the best possible solution.

We are actively working with both the factory and our fulfillment partners to explore alternatives, expecting to reach toward a solution this week and will update you again around next Monday.

We are truly sorry for this situation. This is our first ever project produced and delivered on a worldwide scale. Also, the current situation was truly unexpected and beyond our control. However, we are doing everything we can to resolve it responsibly.

Other regions outside the U.S. are not affected by the entire issues below. Your games have already been shipped, and we look forward to seeing you unboxing and having fun with them! 😁

This situation will NOT affect Age of Bitcoin.

Thanks to the overwhelming support and high order volume for AoB, we are able to ship a large batch directly into the USA, avoiding this issue entirely.

We are deeply grateful for your trust and incredible support. The response to AoB has been amazing, and we couldn’t be happier.