Topline
The Nintendo gaming company on Thursday announced a rare out-of-season sale on games, accessories or other items for American customers it says was made possible by tariff-related refunds, a move that comes months after Nintendo said its customers were “not entitled” to refunds after they paid higher, tariff-related prices for the company’s products.
Nintendo character Mario is seen as an employee walks past in the gaming section for Nintendo Switch products at a shop on Jan. 16, 2025.
AFP via Getty Images
Key Facts
The sale, which takes 30% off prices of select games and other items, will run through Sept. 26 and was announced less than two months after the company said it wouldn’t be passing its government-issued tariff refunds on to customers.
In the announcement, Nintendo said the company “absorbed most tariff-related costs” but the sale is its way of “saying thank you to Nintendo players for their continued support.”
Nintendo and other gaming companies were forced to pay millions in extra import fees on consoles, hardware and accessories after President Donald Trump implemented widespread tariffs last year.
In response, the company passed those fees on to customers by raising the prices of its Switch console models by $30 to $50 and charging $5 to $10 more for accessories, like controllers.
When the Supreme Court struck down the tariffs as illegal, Nintendo and other tech giants filed a lawsuit to recover the duties they had paid.
Nintendo later received a $300 million tariff refund from the government—but said it wouldn’t be passing those refunds on to customers who ended up paying more for their purchases.
KEY BACKGROUND
Nintendo announced it would hike prices for its then-upcoming Switch 2 console one day after Trump announced sweeping tariffs against more than 180 countries. The company launched global price hikes again earlier this year, citing “market conditions,” following similar moves by Sony and Microsoft amid a broader chip supply crunch. After the Supreme Court ruled Trump’s levies were unlawful, the administration said it would refund $166 billion to some 300,000 different importers and many firms, like Nintendo, sued for reimbursement. But economists, like UBS chief economist Paul Donovan, said it seemed “unlikely” anyone would “rush to lower prices to their consumers.” And they were right. Customers sued Nintendo and argued the company should issue tariff rebates to them, but Nintendo has fought back and said customers “received exactly what they bargained and paid for” and aren’t entitled to refunds. The lawsuit is still pending.
CRUCIAL QUOTE
“Nintendo or one of its retailers set a price for each product, and consumers decided whether that price was worth paying,” Nintendo’s attorneys wrote previously. “Those who bought Nintendo’s products received exactly what they bargained and paid for: a console, game and/or accessory at a price to which both parties agreed.”
DID NINTENDO EVER LOWER ITS PRICES BACK TO PRE-TARIFF RATES?
No.
TANGENT
Nintendo is far from alone. More than 80 consumer class-action lawsuits have been filed against major corporations demanding that tariff refunds be passed along to customers, including Microsoft, Sony, Amazon, Target, Ford, Toyota and other giants. Much like Nintendo, none of the companies have voluntarily agreed to pay cash rebates and every major corporation has filed motions to dismiss, maintaining that consumers paid voluntarily at agreed-upon retail prices and have no legal right to government customs refunds.
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