Nintendo says users voluntarily paid higher prices, have no right to tariff refunds
arstechnica.com
Nintendo says Switch buyers got what they paid for, urges court to dismiss lawsuit.
    • WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.worldEnglish
      35·
      21 天前

      They want to eat their cake, and have it to. Will capitalism benefit the capitalists like it does 99.99% of the time? You bet your sweet ass it will!

      99.99% of the time, it works every time!

      • BillyClark@piefed.socialEnglish
        13·
        21 天前

        I’m reminded of how Disney pulled most of their movie ideas from the public domain, and then pushed hard to try to extend copyright so that none of their movies would ever enter the public domain themselves.

    • iamthetot@piefed.caEnglish
      5·
      20 天前

      I mean, not quite the same logic. The tariffs that Nintendo paid were deemed illegal. The price consumers paid was not deemed to be illegal. At least, not yet, as the case is ongoing.

      • 5765313496@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        20 天前

        I’m sure their logic would also say “When we raised prices, fewer people bought our stuff, so we already paid the price.” Or something skeezy like that.

    • jacksilver@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      20 天前

      I hate comments like this. Nintendo paid an illegal tax, so they deserve a refund. Consumers got screwed by their government, not Nintendo.

      Also, if you think the tariffs, AI, threat of more tariffs, Iran war, etc. haven’t increases the cost of operations for businesses then you’re not paying attention to current events.

      • athatet@lemmy.zipEnglish
        8·
        20 天前

        I hate comments like this. Mega corps do not need you to defend them. Fuck them. They can afford to give some of that money back.

        • jacksilver@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          20 天前

          I’m not defending anyone, just explaining how the law is working in this scenario as people seems to have lost the ability to understand simple taxes (tariffs).

  • mycodesucks@lemmy.worldEnglish
    55·
    21 天前

    My mother bought me an NES when I was a child, and shortly after Nintendo lowered the price and they voluntarily refunded her the difference.

    She told me years later that secured her as a Nintendo customer for my games for life.

    This greed is disgusting, but more than anything it’s depressing.

  • Teknikal@anarchist.nexusEnglish
    50·
    21 天前

    Nintendo aren’t a good company but they no doubt lost sales due to the higher tariffs and I don’t really blame them.

    My opinion the tariffs are the US’s own fault they shouldn’t have voted in a moron.

    • dmalteseknight@programming.devEnglish
      13·
      21 天前

      They also don’t know what the current US adminstration will do next. As soon as the tarrifs were struck down Trump implemented new ones. And the thing is that he wasn’t even given as much as a stern talking to for implementing these illegal world affecting tarrifs. In other nations these would have been career ending.

      • Passerby6497@lemmy.worldEnglish
        6·
        20 天前

        In other nations, the leading government figure probably isn’t kept in power by politicians that refuse to do their duty or citizens that stopped caring about facts when it was still legal to smoke on planes.

    • Eggyhead@lemmy.worldEnglish
      7·
      20 天前

      My opinion the tariffs are the US’s own fault they shouldn’t have voted in a moron.

      Actually, the election was rigged in favor of Trump. He stole it. You just don’t hear about it because all he does is cover up shit and gut regulatory bodies while screaming about the left doing it first.

      • Nerdulous@lemmy.zipEnglish
        10·
        20 天前

        I’ll say the same thing to you as I said to them back then. You have to provide proof for claims like that. I really want that to be true and something to be done about it but I need evidence first.

  • tabular@lemmy.worldEnglish
    38·
    21 天前

    The alternative being… not paying and still getting it, Nintendo??

    Or would you rather no one buy or play games from you? I stopped a long time ago.

    • Signtist@bookwyr.meEnglish
      14·
      21 天前

      Nintendo had long since realized that their customers are kids who see Pokemon and Mario and scream at their parents until they buy it for them. They can charge whatever they want and those kids will still bug their parents until they get it.

      Everyone else that buys their products is just a bonus if they still keep buying even after the prices get jacked up. Nintendo made their decision about who to prioritize, and the only boycott that would work to turn things around would have to be orchestrated by all the parents of all the 6 year olds in the world, and I doubt that’ll happen.

  • KRAW@linux.communityEnglish
    30·
    21 天前

    IMO I think it’s weird to focus specifically on Nintendo. The American government basically screwed over its populace and a ton of foreign companies (less sympathy for the former though). I don’t think it’s realistic to expect these companies to reimburse companies, because logistically it’d be a nightmare. The only way I can imagine consumers getting their money back is if the government used the tarrif money to pay a portion of the federal income tax for its citizens, ideally the lower tax vracket. Unfortunately that won’t happen.

    • TheRealKuni@piefed.socialEnglish
      11·
      21 天前

      Likewise. The Switch 2 is a very nice handheld, but it doesn’t hold a candle to having a never-locked-down x86 PC in your hands.

    • Wildmimic@anarchist.nexusEnglish
      6·
      21 天前

      the only console outside of my Steam Deck that i still occasionally use is my old Nintendo DS, because of it’s small form factor and my seemingly undying M3 card lol

      • The Velour Fog @lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        21 天前

        Back when Nintendo made good consoles. My 3DS has been my daily driver since 2012, and so far only needed to replace the thumbstick because the rubber degraded. It’s a little tank and I love it.

        • Wildmimic@anarchist.nexusEnglish
          2·
          21 天前

          I had to replace my DS because the hinge broke, which was pretty common back then. I scored myself a used one from the revision a few years back, where they made the hinges more robust.

  • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.worldEnglish
    22·
    21 天前

    Nintendo being anti-consumer is no surprise, but it’s nice to see someone tried to hold them to account.

    So glad I personally didn’t buy a Switch 2.

  • melsaskca@lemmy.caEnglish
    19·
    21 天前

    Now that Nintendo greed is fully out in the open I hope a lot of their fans leave. The relationship should be symbiotic, not parasitic.

    • Pika@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      4·
      20 天前

      I doubt the majority of the nintendo customers are going to care to be honest. The only people that really got screwed were people decided to jump on board and buy the switch 2 after they raised the prices by 40$ in response to the tariffs.

      Not saying that I think those customers who did spend more on it shouldn’t get a refund but, I do think that the majority of nintendo fans are either unaffected, or the amount wouldn’t be worth chasing. I highly doubt this instance will be the deciding factor on many fans for a “yea fuck Nintendo I’m out” reaction. There are far worse things that Nintendo has done that I think would have caused it prior.

  • k0e3@lemmy.caEnglish
    17·
    21 天前

    They’ve ALWAYS sucked but had a very friendly face. Remember how they tried to ban renting in North America? They failed to do so for games, but they got their filthy clutches on the manuals so game shops weren’t allowed to rent those out. They didn’t need to do that but they did just to make the experience a little bit worse for us consumers.

    Having said that… The US kinda fucked up themselves, so I’m not sure why Nintendo is being singled out.

    • bambooEnglish
      4·
      20 天前

      Nintendo is being singled out because they’re withholding the tariff refunds for tariffs they never paid and passed on to the customers. When the tariffs were imposed, no one really blamed Nintendo and knew it was the Administration’s fault. If Nintendo didn’t want sales to drop because of higher prices, they could have eaten the additional tariff cost until it all got sorted out. Had they done this, then they’d be entitled to that tariff refund money. Instead they passed on the tariff cost to customers, which sucks for customers but was really the only sensible thing Nintendo could have done given the circumstances, and most people aren’t really blaming Nintendo on that decision. But now Nintendo is trying to have it both ways, not pay any of the tariffs and keep all of the tariff refunds which is why they’re being singled out. It’s pure greed on their part with blatant disrespect to their customers.

      • k0e3@lemmy.caEnglish
        1·
        17 天前

        Ok, but which other companies reimbursed the tarrif surcharges? Or did every other company eat the tarrif costs?

        • bambooEnglish
          2·
          17 天前

          You’re right, i reread the article and it mentions similar lawsuits against Sony / Microsoft, so they all suck. I think the reason Nintendo is being singled out here is because there is not a lot of news with those other lawsuits, but with this one, Nintendo is trying to dismiss the case saying plaintiffs:

          “received exactly what they paid for: Nintendo products that Plaintiffs knowingly and voluntarily purchased at the advertised price. Nor is there anything ‘unjust’ about Nintendo retaining money that it may receive from the government as tariff refunds. The fact that Nintendo stands to receive tariff refunds does not give Plaintiffs any legal entitlement to those funds.”

          With Nintendo’s litigious history and them being the first to try to dismiss the case with this argument, they deserve the blowback they’re getting from their own customers.

          • k0e3@lemmy.caEnglish
            2·
            17 天前

            Yeah I think I see what you mean. Their North American customers are like the most loyal of their base and they can’t even fucking throw them a bone. They’re not required to, but fucking come on.

            But at the same time… People should not have have bought non essentials from a company with a history of fucking over their base. What the hell were they expecting? Companies look after one thing: the stock holders. They don’t give two shits about the customers as long as they can make them buy more shit.