PlayStation and Xbox are facing similar tariff lawsuits that Nintendo is facing – but there’s a difference between them.
As reported by Stephen Totilo for GameFile, Sony and Microsoft have responded to separate lawsuits filed in California after they received IEEPA tariff refunds. While these plaintiffs argue that consumers paid for these tariffs with higher prices, both argue that they received what they paid for, and are under no legal obligation to pass refunds on to consumers.
Stephen is right to point out Nintendo’s lawyers made similar arguments in a similar case filed vs. them. However, Nintendo did not raise prices on the Switch 2 from when the console launch right until the start of this month.
Nintendo revealed they actually paid for the tariffs themselves, and did not pass those costs on to consumers. In contrast, both PlayStation and Xbox consoles underwent multiple price hikes during and after the tariffs.
Sony and Microsoft may be able to prove that they actually raised prices because of the memory supply crisis. But given other companies who received tariff refunds are offering price cuts instead of direct refunds, these suits may have always had shaky grounds.
