Nintendo is facing another consumer lawsuit, due to circumstances not entirely of their own creation.
Last year, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa warned about the impact of the Liberation Day tariffs, not only on the company’s bottom line, but the lives of their customers.
Last August 2025, Nintendo announced price increases for several products in the US that could be directly attributed to these tariffs. There’s long unproven speculation that Switch 2 prices were also due to tariffs.
Jumping to this week, the US government started complying with a Supreme Court ruling that these tariffs were unlawful. A new program called Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries will process refunds to companies who paid tariffs.
However, the ruling comes with no obligation to pass that on to consumers. Fedex promised to pass on refunds to customers, while Costco said they would lower prices. Nintendo has not made any such commitments.
This was what led plaintiffs Gregory Hoffert and Prashant Sharan to sue Nintendo for these refunds. Of course, that’s contingent on Nintendo actually receiving said refund.
Costco’s own statement also acknowledges their uncertainty about these refunds. Of course, we’re now all waiting for Nintendo to respond.