{"id":817238,"date":"2026-07-22T20:12:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T20:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/817238\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T20:12:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T20:12:14","slug":"how-nintendos-tariff-hike-ended-with-angry-gamers-and-a-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/817238\/","title":{"rendered":"How Nintendo’s tariff hike ended with angry gamers and a lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Donald Trump’s tariffs flung the global economy into chaos, US gamers saw the price of a Nintendo Switch inflate by $US40 (about $A57) virtually overnight.<\/p>\n

Now, the Japanese company could be on the receiving end of a massive payday from the US government over those “illegal” tariffs.<\/p>\n

And their customers?<\/p>\n

Well, as Nintendo argues in a new lawsuit, they got “exactly what they bargained and paid for”.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Prices for a Nintendo Switch rose by $US40 due to tariffs.\u00a0 (Reuters: Issei Kato)<\/p>\n

Tariffs ‘sweeping’ and ‘constantly changing’<\/p>\n

In 2025, the Trump administration ushered in a new economic vision: “reciprocal” tariffs on dozens of its trading partners.<\/p>\n

Vietnam \u2014 where roughly a third of Nintendo’s Switch units<\/a> are assembled \u2014 was slugged with a 20 per cent tariff rate for most imports.<\/p>\n

In its new lawsuit, Nintendo claims these tariffs were “sweeping” and “constantly changing” and led to the company raising its US prices.<\/p>\n

The Nintendo Switch OLED Model, for example, experienced a $US50 increase after tariffs were announced.<\/p>\n

A number of other items also jumped in price, according to GameDeveloper.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nintendo itemPrice before August 2025 (in USD)Price after (in USD)Nintendo Switch Lite\u00a0$199.99$229.99Nintendo Switch OLED Model$349.99$399.99Nintendo Switch$299.99$339.99Joy-Con 2$94.99$99.99Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller$84.99$89.99Nintendo Switch 2 Dock Set$119.99$124.99Nintendo GameCube Controller$64.99$69.99Nintendo Sound Clock: Alarm$99.99$109.99’Illegal’ ruling led to billion-dollar payout<\/p>\n

Then, Donald Trump’s grand plan was dealt a deadly blow.<\/p>\n

In February, the US’s highest court found the tariffs Mr Trump had placed on foreign imports were illegal.<\/p>\n

The court ruling came after angry businesses and dozens of US states sued.<\/p>\n

While Mr Trump vowed to impose new tariffs, Nintendo was already seeking its refund.<\/p>\n

In March, the game developer filed a lawsuit<\/a>, demanding the White House issued refunds with interest.<\/p>\n

It did not disclose how much it had paid in tariffs.<\/p>\n

Australian brand has a ‘Trump account’ after six-figure tariff refund<\/a><\/p>\n

Businesses globally are clawing back tens of billions of dollars paid to United States customs after Donald Trump’s so-called liberation day tariffs were deemed unlawful.<\/p>\n

Overall, $US80 billion in tariffs has already been refunded by the US since May, plus interest at a rate of up to 7 per cent, analysis by Oxford Economics has found.<\/a><\/p>\n

Over the next year, the same amount is expected to be refunded to businesses globally.<\/p>\n

It seems highly likely Nintendo may be part of the massive payout.<\/p>\n

So, seizing an opportunity to recoup some cash, customers filed their own lawsuit against Nintendo in April.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

US customers say they paid the increased cost for Nintendo objects during the trade dispute.\u00a0 (Reuters: Issei Kato)<\/p>\n

Gamers got what they paid for, Nintendo argues<\/p>\n

The April class action alleged that Nintendo customers “would not have paid those higher prices” if it were not for the tariffs.<\/p>\n

It sought to reclaim those “tariff overcharges” for the “millions of consumers” affected.<\/p>\n

Now a new court filing submitted this week, from Nintendo’s side, shows that fight will be anything but easy.<\/p>\n

Calling the price increases “modest and selective”, the company argued customers are “not entitled” to a rebate.<\/p>\n

Instead, it claimed customers “voluntarily” paid the increased cost.<\/p>\n

\"Side<\/p>\n

Nintendo argued it had taken on the bulk of the tariff costs.\u00a0 (ABC News: Maren Preuss)<\/p>\n

“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,” the filing said.<\/p>\n

“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.”<\/p>\n

The company has asked the court dismiss the case, also arguing consumers technically paid third-party retailers, rather than Nintendo.<\/p>\n

“If a consumer did not want to pay the advertised price, they were free to abstain from purchasing the product or seek out competing products,” Nintendo’s filing added.Latest in gaming disappointment<\/p>\n

The plaintiffs in the case against Nintendo are yet to respond, but the lawsuit is the latest example of gaming companies drawing the ire of their users.<\/p>\n

Loading…<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Sony announced it will completely stop the production and sale of physical discs for the PlayStation.<\/p>\n

From 2028, gamers will still be able to buy a physical box for games \u2014 but all it will contain is a code to download the game digitally.<\/p>\n

The decision has faced backlash from those who fear it is attempting to stamp out the second-hand market.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, a memory chip shortage is continuing to drive up gaming console prices globally as major DRAM manufacturers increasingly supply semiconductor wafers to data centres.<\/p>\n

Microsoft has already announced significant price increases across the entire Xbox Series X\/S line-up due to the shortage, and stated it expects component prices to double again by 2027<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Donald Trump’s tariffs flung the global economy into chaos, US gamers saw the price of a Nintendo…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":817239,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[64,63,2490,1853,10844,4688,105],"class_list":["post-817238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-donald-trump","tag-gaming","tag-nintendo","tag-tariffs","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=817238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/817239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=817238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=817238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=817238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}