- Players are suing Nintendo for duty refunds
- Nintendo is currently suing the US government to get its tariffs back
- Another lawsuit wants to return those funds to the consumers who paid them
After the US Supreme Court ruled that US President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs were illegal, many companies have launched lawsuits against the government to get back their tariffs. This includes Nintendo, but if players have their way, the money will flow all the way back to the customers instead of Mario’s pockets.
As seen by Game FIle, two Nintendo fans – Gregory Hoffert and Prashant Sharan – have filed a class-action lawsuit claiming that any money Nintendo has recovered from the US government must be returned to customers like those who bought tariffed Nintendo merchandise. Otherwise, Nintendo’s duty refund would constitute unjust enrichment in violation of Washington State’s consumer protection laws – the state where the class action is filed.
The suit is being filed on behalf of US Nintendo customers who purchased a Nintendo product affected by the tariffs between February 1, 2025 and February 24, 2026. This would apparently include various Nintendo accessories and the original Nintendo Switch, which saw price increases during that time, apparently in response to US tariffs.
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The class action also highlights comments from Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa, who in a May 2025 investor call said, “Our basic policy is that for any country or region, if tariffs are imposed, we recognize them as part of the cost and incorporate them into the price,” in response to a question about tariffs.
Not a simple calculation
Nintendo has yet to comment on the lawsuit, nor has it said whether it would return the recovered funds to customers when asked about this earlier, and legal experts have begun to weigh in saying that this lawsuit is unlikely to succeed. Some companies – such as FedEx, UPS and DHL – have agreed to refund tariffs to customers, and perhaps Nintendo will do the same (especially if it feels public pressure off the back of this lawsuit).
However, the situation is not cut and dry. First, companies may not have passed on 100% of tariff costs to consumers, and tariff costs are not easy to quantify – for example, companies may have taken on debt to pay tariffs and had to pay back interest on their loans.
That is, 100% of the money refunded to businesses may not be owed to consumers. As such, issuing accurate refunds would be a major challenge, causing headaches that most businesses may not want to deal with.
Now, if consumers have been asked to bear some of the bulk of charges that have since been lifted, they should be reimbursed, although it is a challenge to determine exactly what they owe. It seems like the right thing to do, especially if the company is getting a refund from the government.
That said, I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you. Unless lawsuits or public pressure succeeds, I don’t think many companies will hand out refunds outright. And as I’ve warned before, be on the lookout for duty refund scams. Especially since there is so much confusion about the situation, I wouldn’t be surprised if bad actors try to take advantage of it.
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