Nintendo Hit With Lawsuit as Gamers Seek Cut of Billions in Tariff Refunds

Nintendo is facing a class-action lawsuit by gamers demanding a portion of tariff refunds that the company might receive from the U.S. government. In the lawsuit, plaintiffs allege that Nintendo did not the bear the full brunt of the Trump administration's tariffs that have been deemed illegal, and instead passed the elevated costs to consumers in the form of higher retail prices.

"Nintendo therefore collected the tariff costs from consumers through elevated pricing, while seeking refunds of the same tariff payments from the federal government. Unless restrained by this Court, Nintendo stands to recover the same tariff payments twice—once from consumers through higher prices and again from the federal government through tariff refunds, including interest paid by the government on those funds," the lawsuit alleges.

At the heart of the issue is a Supreme Court ruling in February that found the the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) does not authorize President Trump to impose tariffs, and that the U.S. may be required to refund billions of dollars to importers that paid the IEEPA tariffs.

Where things may get tricky, however, is that the Supreme Court ruling stated the refunds might be required "even though some importers may have already passed on costs to consumers or others." As a result, the ruling agrees with an oral argument that the refund process is likely to be a "mess."

In light of the Supreme Court ruling (PDF), Nintendo and thousand of other companies are suing the U.S. government, alleging it unlawfully collected more than $200 billion. The U.S. Customers and Border Protection (CPB) posted a dedicated online portal where companies can apply for refunds., with CPB saying it collected some $166 billion from around 330,000 importers.

The class-action lawsuit filed by Gregory Hoffert and Prashant Sharan points out that Nintendo delayed preorders for its Switch 2 console to assess the potential impact of tariffs. It also highlights price adjustments for certain products, including Switch 2 accessories like the Switch 2 Pro Controller, which increased from $79.99 to $84.99.

"In May 2025, Nintendo held a financial results briefing where it acknowledged the impact of the tariffs on the company’s business. When asked about the company’s tariff assumptions, Nintendo’s President, Shuntaro Furukawa, stated that 'we have factored in a negative impact of several tens of billions of yen at the profit level into our consolidated financial forecast for the fiscal year ending March 2026'," the class-action lawsuit (PDF) states.

The lawsuit also highlights price increases on the original family of Switch consoles and accessories and claims Nintendo "stands to receive a windfall" from tariff refunds that it "already recouped" from consumers through higher prices.