At the beginning of March 2026, a report from Aftermath reveal that Nintendo had issued a lawsuit against the US government for what it claimed was "unlawful impositions of tariffs." Now, another lawsuit has appeared in relation to that suit, but it's not coming from Nintendo or the US government. Instead, it's directed at Nintendo from players in California and Washington, who claim that if Nintendo gets the money it claims the US government unlawfully charged, then that tariff money should make its way back to the players, who paid for the higher prices implemented because of those tariffs.
This once again comes from a new report from Aftermath, who spotted the filing, which claims that Nintendo could be getting its refunds on tariffs twice. Once from the US government, and a second time from consumers who had to pay a higher price for Nintendo products due to those same tariffs.
"The economic reality of the tariff regime, however, is that importers like Nintendo did not ultimately bear all the costs of the tariffs. Instead, the importers passed the elevated costs on to consumers in the form of higher retail prices," the filing reads. "Nintendo therefore collected the tariff costs from consumers through elevated pricing, while seeking refunds of the same tariff payments from the federal government."
"Unless restrained by this Court, Nintendo stands to recover the same tariff payments twice - once from consumers through higher prices and again from the federal government through tariff refunds, including interest paid by the government on those funds. Nintendo has made no legally binding commitment to return tariff-related overcharges to the consumers who actually paid them. This lawsuit seeks to prevent that unjust result."
The suit is a class-action case that, if successful, could see hundreds, even thousands of players get a refund for Nintendo products they purchased that had their price impacted by tariffs. Of course, that's a big 'if' in the first place, since the suit's class action status would need to be approved before it continues, and even if that status is approved, the gamers in California and Washington, Gregory Hoffert and Prashant Sharan will need to then win their case.
It feels unlikely that any individual party could win a case against such a litigious company as Nintendo, but stranger David vs. Goliath stories have happened. It'll be interesting to see how this case progresses, especially if it is granted class action status.
About the author: David has been writing about videogames, technology, and culture since 2020, with a focus on reporting daily news across multiple publications, including GameDaily.Biz, GameSkinny, and PlayStation Universe before joining Wccftech in 2025. David started contributing as Canada/US reporter for Wccftech's gaming section in 2025. Besides being up-to-date on the industry's movements, he loves interviewing developers, reviewing games, and writing intricate essays about the symbolism and layered meanings to be found in rich narratives as he's done for publications like GamesIndustry.Biz, LostInCult, and others. Outside of games he loves movies, music, theatre, his hometown, and his family, though not necessarily in that order.
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