Nintendo, tariff refunds and the question of how to repay customers

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With the help of the $300 million it secured in tariff refunds, Nintendo launched a “customer appreciation sale” last week to thank its loyal customers.

The sale “is our way of saying thank you to Nintendo players for their continued support and is made possible in part by tariff-related refunds,” Nintendo said in a press release. “While Nintendo absorbed most tariff-related costs, the refunds helped make promotions like this one possible.”

Consumers bore the brunt of tariffs through higher prices, and while many don’t expect direct refunds from businesses, they will judge how businesses use the tariff refunds received from the federal government. 

Time will tell how Nintendo and others will fare in the court of public opinion.

The issue of tariff refunds is a difficult one from a customer experience standpoint founder and principal of Watermark Consulting

“Ideally, if companies are receiving refunds for tariffs they paid, you’d want to see those refunds make it into the hands of consumers who paid tariff-inflated prices for various goods,” Picoult said in an email. “That seems fair, in contrast to the alternative where companies simply use the refunds to boost their profits, at the expense of the consumer.”

But it becomes more complicated when many businesses claim to have eaten some of the cost of tariffs. That creates “an accounting issue,” Picoult said.

Nintendo, for example, said it absorbed most of the tariff-related costs. Its sale, which started on Sept. 12 and runs until Sept. 26, offers 30% off Nintendo Switch games and bundles, among other discounts. 

“This is Nintendo’s attempt to turn tariff refunds into a show of fairness by letting customers share in the benefit because they bore some of the tariff-related costs,” Dipanjan Chatterjee, VP and principal analyst at Forrester, told CX Dive in an email. “But scratch beneath the surface, and the proposition gets more complicated.” 

Nintendo is still facing a class-action lawsuit from consumers seeking Switch 2-related tariff refunds. Nintendo had attributed the price hikes of the Switch 2 accessories in 2025 to changing “market conditions” amid tariff hikes, and in a July court filing, Nintendo sought to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that it is “meritless.” Nintendo did not respond to a request for comment prior to publication.

With the sale Nintendo is offering this month, the customers who bore the higher costs are not necessarily being compensated, Chatterjee said.