Tariff refunds may not be in the loot box for gamers.
Sony’s legal team said it shouldn’t have to pass on tariff-related refunds to its consumers.
Nintendo and Microsoft made similar arguments in recent legal filings.
The biggest video game makers don’t want to give you back your loot.
When President Donald Trump imposed sweeping tariffs by executive order last year, Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo all raised their prices, passing those increased costs onto their customers. At the time, the companies said the price hikes were due to market conditions and the shifting economic landscape.
Now, after the US Supreme Court ruled that Trump’s tariffs were illegal, forcing the administration to refund companies for tariffs they paid, those same video game makers are now arguing in court that they don’t have to pass them back to their customers.
While big-box retailers like Walmart and Costco have said they intend to lower costs for consumers who were squeezed by tariff-related price hikes, the big video game makers haven’t taken that route.
Sony
Attorneys for Sony Interactive Entertainment sought to dismiss a class-action lawsuit filed against the company in May. In the suit, plaintiffs said Sony charged consumers inflated prices for PlayStation consoles after the tariffs were imposed, and then sought refunds from the US government.
On Monday, Sony’s legal team brushed off those claims.
“They suffered no cognizable injury because they voluntarily paid the advertised prices for the consoles and received exactly what they paid for—working consoles,” the attorneys said.
They added that the plaintiffs “received the consoles they willingly purchased at the advertised prices.”
“Pricing decisions involve many factors—inflation, supply chain costs, currency fluctuations, and demand—and Plaintiffs do not plausibly allege that tariffs caused the console price increases.”
The company said it expects to receive around 80 billion yen — or $510 million — in tariff refunds across the Sony Group during a quarterly meeting this July.
Microsft
Xbox owner Microsoft doesn’t want to give consumers tariff refunds, either. In July, consumers said Microsoft increased prices for Xbox consoles and other products in response to the tariffs and then sought tariff refunds, which they consider “unjust.” Microsoft sought to dismiss the class action lawsuit in late August.
“He paid for it, he received it, and he continues to use it. Plaintiff received the benefit of his bargain. But now he wants to go back and renegotiate the price he paid,” Microsoft attorneys said of the plaintiff. “He does not allege that the Xbox does not work the way he thought it would, that Microsoft made any misrepresentations about the Xbox’s qualities, or that he paid the price for the Xbox only because he believed that it was based on a tariff.”
