Nintendo says customers aren’t owed tariff refunds in response to class action lawsuit

Nintendo has asked a federal court to dismiss a proposed class action lawsuit that argues the company should refund customers who paid higher prices on certain products due to tariffs later ruled illegal.

The lawsuit was originally filed in April 2026 by plaintiffs Gregory Hoffert and Prashant Sharan, who claim Nintendo benefited from raising prices on console hardware and accessories in response to US tariffs, only to later seek refunds after the US Supreme Court struck down those tariffs.

The plaintiffs argue consumers should receive those refunded tariff costs rather than Nintendo retaining the money.

Nintendo says customers got exactly what they paid for

The lawsuit alleges Nintendo increased prices on products including the original Nintendo Switch console and Switch 2 controllers instead of absorbing the additional tariff costs.

“Major U.S. importers, including Nintendo, responded by increasing prices on consumer goods to offset the cost of these tariffs. As a result, American consumers paid higher retail prices for consumer goods reflecting the economic burden of those tariffs,” the filing states.

Nintendo has now asked the court to dismiss the case, arguing that customers voluntarily purchased its products at agreed prices and are not entitled to refunds because tariff policies later changed.

“Nintendo or one of its retailers set a price for each product, and consumers decided whether that price was worth paying. 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,” Nintendo’s lawyers said.

“The money Plaintiffs paid represents the purchase price of the goods they wanted and received; Plaintiffs are not entitled to a rebate simply because of intervening legal developments related to tariffs.”

Nintendo

Nintendo also disputes claims that it simply passed all tariff costs onto customers.

According to the filing, the company says it implemented only “modest and selective” price increases while absorbing tariff costs on some products, including the Nintendo Switch 2. It added that pricing decisions were influenced by several factors beyond tariffs, including higher memory, labor and shipping costs.

“Like its market peers, Nintendo made the difficult decision to adjust some of its prices in response to market conditions including costs of memory, labor, shipping, and tariffs. Unlike many of its market peers, however, Nintendo did not simply increase each product’s price by the amount of tariffs it paid on that product or impose an across-the-board tariff surcharge,” the company said.

“Instead, Nintendo imposed modest and selective price adjustments, and it chose to bear the costs of tariffs on some of its most popular products of 2025, including its flagship console, the Nintendo Switch 2.”

The company also argued consumers were never obligated to purchase its products after prices increased and could have chosen competing products instead.