Nintendo of America said on Sept. 10 that it will run a Customer Appreciation Sale from 9 p.m. U.S. time on Sept. 12 through 8:59 p.m. on Sept. 26. The promotion covers dozens of Switch digital games and bundles, with the main offer set at 30% off. Some physical games, DLC, accessories, amiibo and apparel will also be discounted through Nintendo eShop, the company’s official store and selected retail partners.
In the announcement, Nintendo directly tied part of the promotion to tariff refunds. The company said: 「This sale is our way of thanking players for their continued support, made possible in part by tariff-related refunds. While Nintendo absorbed most of the tariff costs itself, those refunds helped make this kind of promotion possible.」
Nintendo disclosed about $300 million in IEEPA refunds in August results
The refund referenced in the sale notice matches a figure Nintendo disclosed in its FY27 first-quarter earnings report released on Aug. 6. In that filing, Nintendo said it recognized about $300 million in tariff refunds related to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, and recorded the amount as a reduction in cost of sales.
The company also said those tariffs were borne mainly by Nintendo rather than passed on to consumers through pricing. With that accounting benefit, quarterly operating profit reached JPY 142.5 billion, up 150.5% from a year earlier, and gross margin rose by 22 percentage points.
The refunds trace back to a court ruling on Trump-era tariffs
According to the source material, the refund stems from a February 2026 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that found global tariffs imposed by Donald Trump under IEEPA to be unlawful. The U.S. Court of International Trade later ordered Customs to return about $165 billion to importers through the CAPE system.
Consumers accuse Nintendo of benefiting twice
That refund is also at the center of a U.S. consumer class action. In April 2026, consumers sued Nintendo of America in Hoffert et al v. Nintendo, alleging unjust enrichment. The complaint argues that Nintendo raised console and accessory prices citing tariffs, then recovered money from the government afterward, creating what plaintiffs describe as a double benefit. They are seeking repayment for extra amounts paid by buyers between February 2025 and February 2026.
Nintendo responded with a motion to dismiss filed around July 21. The company argued that consumers received exactly the products they agreed to buy and paid for, and that plaintiffs cannot demand refunds simply because tariff law changed after the fact. Nintendo’s position, as described in the source, is that a completed commercial transaction does not reopen just because a company’s later costs decline.
Nintendo says it did absorb part of the pressure
The pricing timeline in the source shows that Nintendo did not leave all prices unchanged. In April 2025, the U.S. price of the Switch 2 remained at $449.99, but the Pro Controller increased from $79.99 to $84.99 and a pair of Joy-Con 2 controllers rose from $89.99 to $94.99. In August 2025, Nintendo raised prices across the older Switch lineup in the U.S., and Joy-Con 2 added another $5 to reach $99.99.
It was not until May 2026 that Nintendo raised the U.S. price of the Switch 2 itself to $499.99, an 11.1% increase. The company cited memory costs, the yen exchange rate, oil prices and tariffs. It also said FY27 would face about JPY 100 billion in added costs, roughly $627 million, and lowered its annual sales forecast to 16.5 million units. Nintendo shares at one point fell by nearly 10% after that update.
Player criticism centers on how Nintendo uses the word “refund”
The source also compares Nintendo’s move with rivals. Sony’s disc version of the PlayStation 5 rose this April from $549.99 to $649.99, an 18% increase, while the Xbox Series X increased in August to $799.99, or 23% higher. By that measure, Nintendo’s 11.1% increase was the smallest among the three major console makers, and the company had held the main console price steady for more than a year before changing it. That forms part of Nintendo’s argument that it tried to absorb costs.
Even so, the backlash described in the source is focused less on the sale itself than on Nintendo’s selective use of the term refund. In court, the company argues that the refunded money belongs to Nintendo and that consumers have no claim to it. In the sale announcement, the same refund is presented as part of the reason for thanking players.
There is also a practical gap between the promotion and the complaint. The sale centers on 30%-off digital games rather than returning money previously spent on consoles or Joy-Con hardware. The source notes that the promotion came only 11 days after the Switch 2 price was raised to $499.99.
Case remains at the motion-to-dismiss stage
The lawsuit is still at the motion-to-dismiss stage. If the court rejects Nintendo’s arguments and the case moves into substantive proceedings, the outcome could serve as a reference point for other companies that also sought IEEPA tariff refunds, according to the source material. The effects of the broader refund wave, tied to about $165 billion, are still playing out.