Nintendo asks court to dismiss US tariff refund lawsuit

Nintendo has asked a court to throw out a class action lawsuit that seeks to force the company to refund customers who paid inflated prices for Switch hardware and accessories during the 2025 U.S. tariff period. The motion, filed July 21, argues that consumers “received exactly what they bargained and paid for” and that completed sales aren’t retroactively adjusted because of later legal developments.

The lawsuit, brought by Gregory Hoffert and Prashant Sharan in April 2026, claimed Nintendo would be unjustly enriched if it collected refunds from its own successful challenge to the tariffs without passing them on to buyers. Nintendo raised prices on the original Switch and Switch 2 peripherals like the Pro Controller and Joy-Con 2 in August 2025, citing “market conditions” but clearly reacting to new tariffs. After those tariffs were ruled illegal, Nintendo sued the U.S. government for reimbursement, and the plaintiffs argued those refunds should flow downstream to consumers.

Nintendo’s response is blunt: “That is not how commercial transactions work.” The company also noted it absorbed some tariff costs rather than passing them all through, and it never raised the price of the Switch 2 console itself beyond its $449.99 launch price. For anyone hoping to see a check in the mail, the message is clear: you bought a product at a price you agreed to, and that’s the end of it. This won’t be unique to Nintendo; any corporation that successfully reclaims tariffs will likely keep the money, because that’s what corporations do.