Nintendo might have to prepare itself for a lawsuit that could have far-reaching implications for companies aiming to secure a tariff refund from the United States government.
According to new court documents (via Aftermath), two Nintendo customers have filed a proposed class action complaint in the United States District Court’s Western District of Washington, with the aim of forcing Nintendo to pass a portion of their tariff refunds back to them. Following the US trade court’s ruling that US President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” global tariffs were illegal, thousands of companies found themselves eligible to receive a refund from the US government.
Several companies like FedEx and UPS are already planning to pass these refunds back to their customers, but what about Nintendo? The gaming giant has said nothing so far, but the brewing lawsuit from plaintiffs Gregory Hoffert and Prashant Sharan could soon change that. In a formal complaint written by their lawyers, Hoffert and Sharan allege that Nintendo could receive a “windfall” if they apply for a tariff refund.
The company had already “recouped tariff costs from consumers through higher prices,” and the pair argued that Nintendo did not face much in the way of financial hardships. While the tariffs did kick in before the launch of the Switch 2, Nintendo did not raise the price of the console–and has not done so yet–and instead increased the prices of Switch 2 accessories and original Switch hardware. “Nintendo now seeks to recover from the government duties whose economic burden was borne, in whole or in part, by Plaintiffs and Class members,” the lawyers wrote.
GameSpot has reached out to Nintendo for comment and will update this post if it receives a reply.
It’s worth noting that the case still needs to be approved by a judge before it can move forward, but the lawyers for the plaintiffs believe that anyone in the US “who purchased goods from Nintendo” over 12 months could be eligible for a refund. If the case does go ahead, it could also set a precedent for other class-action lawsuits against Sony and Microsoft, who raised prices on their hardware by May 2025 due to “market conditions” at the time. Trump’s 30% tariff on electronics manufactured in China wasn’t explicitly mentioned, but they were seen as a primary factor.
The price of an Xbox Game Pass subscription also increased dramatically in October 2025–and decreased this week–while Sony recently raised the price of its PS5 hardware again. It’s worth noting that these increases are also the result of global component shortages driven by AI data center cannibalization of RAM, supply chain crises, and conflicts in the Middle East that impacted production.