Nintendo's Customer Appreciation Sale goes live in the US, made possible by tariff-related refunds

ut2k4master · 2026-09-13T19:05:49+0100

retrospect said:
I'm guessing my Nintendo account is region-locked to the UK and I can't get in on this, even if I'm in the US?

you can change the region of your account or create a US account, but still be able to play those games with your main UK account

Wolfy · 2026-09-13T19:10:23+0100

I think I'm going to "appreciate" Nintendo's past work instead, for an even better "price"

emigre · 2026-09-13T19:35:50+0100

Sir Tortoise said:
Please understand the Nintendo Ninjas are not forcing me to say this, but...really, how would direct tariff refunds even work?

I've not heard of any company actually passing them back to individual customers, because there is no practical way to do so. Is Nintendo supposed to ask millions of people for their bank details and recent purchase history? Across multiple countries?
That sounds like a legal and logistical nightmare.

Dropping prices back down would be the best move, I think...but lol, they're never going to do that. So a temporary drop in price is at least something, even if it is an entirely cynical move.

You have a receipt (or multiple ones) and share a copy of it. The percentage that was a tariff is refunded like any standard tax refund.

It will be a ballache because the tariffs was fucking stupid to begin with.

No companies will do it off their free will because capitalism ho.

Armadillo · 2026-09-13T19:40:07+0100

Possibly controversial, but I don't think people are owed tariff refunds.

Nintendo set a price, people bent over and accepted that price and paid. It's not an essential item, people could have said "no", let sales drop and Nintendo would have had to eat the tarriffs and lower the price (or bundle with games or whatever).

You accepted the higher price when you bought it, if it was not acceptable, you should not have bought it. You are owed nothing.

Sicklyboy · 2026-09-13T19:40:38+0100

Sir Tortoise said:
I've not heard of any company actually passing them back to individual customers

Panic (makers of the Playdate handheld console) are actually doing direct tariff refunds to consumers, they announced this a few weeks ago.

But yeah, other than them I can't really name anyone either. And because of how it works, it's not that surprising - you, the consumer, don't pay the tariff cost, generally speaking. The importer does - whether that be Nintendo themselves, Best Buy, Walmart, Amazon, etc. They are importing the hardware, the tariff is imposed on them at time of import, and the increased cost to bring the hardware into the country is typically passed along to you, the consumer, as an increased retail price.

Then, US Commerce Secretary Howard Nutlick and his son bought the rights to tariff refunds from some companies for pennies on the dollar before the SCOTUS deemed them unconstitutional. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/meet-quiet-winners-supreme-court-104500283.html

They personally profit to the tune of many billions of dollars.

You, the little guy, get fucked. Again, and again, and again.

emigre · 2026-09-13T20:01:10+0100

Sicklyboy said:
Panic (makers of the Playdate handheld console) are actually doing direct tariff refunds to consumers, they announced this a few weeks ago.

But yeah, other than them I can't really name anyone either. And because of how it works, it's not that surprising - you, the consumer, don't pay the tariff cost, generally speaking. The importer does - whether that be Nintendo themselves, Best Buy, Walmart, Amazon, etc. They are importing the hardware, the tariff is imposed on them at time of import, and the increased cost to bring the hardware into the country is typically passed along to you, the consumer, as an increased retail price.

Then, US Commerce Secretary Howard Nutlick and his son bought the rights to tariff refunds from some companies for pennies on the dollar before the SCOTUS deemed them unconstitutional. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/meet-quiet-winners-supreme-court-104500283.html

They personally profit to the tune of many billions of dollars.

You, the little guy, get fucked. Again, and again, and again.

Why would Mamdani do this?

retrospect · 2026-09-13T20:04:35+0100

Armadillo said:
Possibly controversial, but I don't think people are owed tariff refunds.

I think it's a show of good faith. Since the tariffs were ruled illegal, Nintendo gets the money back. It's not a lot of money because the tariffs were short-lived. A sale of this kind shows that Nintendo wasn't profiteering and it gets customers onto the store to buy things they otherwise might not, and it gets them playing games.

People generally know very little about the tariffs. Even on here - a specialist forum - people were blaming tariffs for price increases months after they'd ended. This wouldn't have been a decision by their legal team. It will have been by marketing.

SeltzerMist · 2026-09-13T20:05:18+0100

Sicklyboy said:
Panic (makers of the Playdate handheld console) are actually doing direct tariff refunds to consumers, they announced this a few weeks ago.

I could be mistaken, but IIRC they were the only place you could also purchase the device which makes a reimbursement easier to facilitate.

Ambers_Crimson_8K · 2026-09-13T20:17:32+0100

Honestly customer appreciation would be dropping all the old ass digital games to $20 ot $25 dollars and all the passes and DLC's to $5 to $10...

Their sales numbers would be insane and they'd still profit billions.

But they too greedy to even do that!

According to their EULA, we don't own anything we buy anyways, so why would we keep renting the digital purchases for high prices.

Sicklyboy · 2026-09-13T20:29:33+0100

SeltzerMist said:
I could be mistaken, but IIRC they were the only place you could also purchase the device which makes a reimbursement easier to facilitate.

Woops, I forgot to mention that. Yes, I believe that is correct, I don't think they had any official 3rd party retail for it

xdarkx · 2026-09-13T20:42:23+0100

It's funny how Nintendo named this sale Customer Appreciation Sale while refusing to pay back the customers who sued them because they had to pay for higher price during the whole tariff debacle.

KanaKonpaku · 2026-09-13T21:06:06+0100

As much as I don't have as much hatred for Nintendo as some of the people I've seen on this site, it is still wild to me that a company can try to use tariff refunds as an excuse to run a digital sale where 100% of the profits go to the company anyway... How is this comparable to tariff refunds? Makes me glad I haven't sided with a game company so I complain about the absurdity of this.

I pwned U! · 2026-09-13T21:29:33+0100

I'm going to take advantage of this to get a few physical games with online multiplayer that are on sale and still in stock. If I never get around to playing them much, at least I'll be able to resell them.

Anything without online multiplayer is better enjoyed with CFW and emulation.

Retrojunkies · 2026-09-13T22:17:48+0100

Am i the only one thinking how the fuck is this any form of appreciation to its customers, who nintendo added its tax tarrif onto the console sale price.

So they didn't lose any money, as usual, nintendo passes its expenses down to the consumer.

But then they manage to reclaim the money paid due to the tax tarrif. Ensures that the legal system to side with them, that its illegal nintendo were to pay more because of the tax tariff.

But then demand its customers have no legal rights to try take nintendo to court, and those who do, are to be instantly dismissed.

Now they put up a sale on its digital store, which isnt refunding customers anything at all.

Its taking advantage of the idiots that cant see this for what it is, a means for nintendo to gain more money on game sales.

So not only have they been refunded millions in tax tariffs, told consumers to fuck off, now tricks customers into giving nintendo more money....

Fuck nintendo.

KanaKonpaku · 2026-09-13T22:19:45+0100

As I just went to look this ~~money pulling attempt~~ sale, I just realized I own like 99% of the games in it anyways. The only game I was thinking about getting was Kirby Air Riders, but nooooo, they can't put that one on there. I don't own Tears of the Kingdom or that Echoes one, but I'd rather get them physically. So thanks Nintendo for nothing. "Appreciation". Steam Sales appreciate me more as at least the games I want usually go on sale.

The Real Jdbye · 2026-09-13T22:29:31+0100

Feeling unappreciated right now

Well, at least I got Metroid Prime 4 physical for over 50% off.

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