Fans are reacting to the announcement of a unique “Customer Appreciation” sale that Nintendo claims has been “made possible in part by tariff-related refunds.”
Nintendo will temporarily reduce the price of “dozens of Nintendo Switch digital games and bundles, plus savings on select physical games, downloadable content, accessories, amiibo and apparel.” Whether Nintendo Switch 2 games will also be included is unknown.
While cheaper prices are nothing to be sniffed at, the framing of this promotion — which runs for just two weeks, from September 13 through September 26 — as being funded by tariff refunds has certainly raised eyebrows.
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Nintendo and numerous other companies are now recouping the money they previously handed over to the U.S. government as part of tariffs that have since been deemed illegal. Nintendo (and again, numerous other companies) raised prices to combat these tariffs, and fans have been calling for Nintendo to pass some of its tariff refund back to gamers. Indeed, a proposed class action lawsuit is brewing, calling for Nintendo to share its refund with Switch purchasers — but the company itself has argued that it has no reason to do so.
Today’s sale announcement is being taken by some fans as a way to placate those fans who remain upset about all this, while also continuing to signal that it won’t be doling out partial refunds to any recent Switch and Switch 2 customers.
While the lack of partial refunds isn’t particularly surprising, what is rather remarkable here is the acknowledgement that Nintendo did very well out of the whole situation — to the extent that it is now lowering prices (by a small amount, on a selection of titles, for a limited time).
Nintendo’s “Customer Appreciation Sale” announcement. Image credit: Nintendo.
“Ah yes, because they couldn’t have possibly had a sale if it wasn’t for the tariffs,” wrote one fan on video game forum ResetEra.
“It’s a coupon. Makes them look good and gets people to spend money. Win-win for them,” wrote another.
“Lol the gall of them,” wrote a third. “‘We’ll do a sale to celebrate not giving your money back.'”
“Nintendo is f***ing allergic to any percentage higher than 30%,” wrote yet another fan. “Still, the fact that they’re offering a discount at all as some sort of ‘apology’ is surprising in itself.”
Nintendo is yet to reveal exactly which games and other products will be part of the sale, and we may not find out until the price reductions go live on September 13. But even despite the scepticism, there are plenty of fans who have already expressed excitement for the sale, and who sound ready to splash out further.
“So you get your tariff money back… if you give them more money,” concluded one fan. “You know what? I’ll take it lol.”
Tom Phillips
News Editor
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social