Nintendo says thanks for the Trump Tariff cash, here’s a “Customer Appreciation Sale”

Nintendo fo America has announced a Customer Appreciation Sale for the US, saying that this fabulous opportunity to spend more money with them is a thank you to its customers, and that it’s able to have a sale like this because of the Trump Tariff refunds they’re pocketing.

Seriously. They said that.

“The Customer Appreciation Sale is our way of saying thank you to Nintendo players for their continued support and is made possible in part by tariff-related refunds. While Nintendo absorbed most tariff-related costs, the refunds helped make promotions like this one possible.”

The sale will run from 12th September through 26th, and will be spread across the Nintendo eShop for digital games, as well a physical games in the Nintendo Store and retail locations in the US.

We don’t yet know what discounts are coming, and so there’s a chance that Nintendo will surprise us, but there’s doubts. This is “one of our largest promotions ever, featuring 30% off dozens of Nintendo Switch digital games and bundles, plus savings on select physical games, downloadable content, accessories, amiibo, and apparel.”

This does potentially elevate the sale towards what we typically see during Black Friday, but 30% off on Nintendo Switch games is nothing new. That’s the standard discount that they apply to their titles. That’s fine, and does help, but let’s not call that anything special. Sales and discounts are an enticement for gamers to spend more money, not a reward, and it’s not like sales are only “made possible” because of government kick backs.

The framing is completely tone deaf at a time of rising costs for consumers. In the last few weeks, Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft have all pushed back on the notion that they should pass Trump Tariff refunds that they are receiving on to customers, saying that they are under no obligation to do so as customers would have bought consoles and games during this time in full knowledge of what they were spending.

Companies that itemised the tariffs separately might be in a different position, but Nintendo did not do this and did not change pricing on their consoles and games because of the tariffs. They did pause on setting a US price for the Switch 2 as Trump announced his tariffs at the worst possible time for them, but then held steady on the newer console through to this month, over a year later, where the greater upward pressure on pricing came from RAM and SSD costs. Sony and Microsoft can similarly point to

The story for the original Nintendo Switch is quite different, though. Nintendo did increase the US price of the older hardware in August 2025, citing “market conditions” as a thinly veiled reason, but also increased Canadian pricing around the same time.

But back to the matter at hand, I don’t think many US gamers will feel particularly appreciated by a sale like this.

Source: Nintendo of America

Tags: Donald Trump, Nintendo, Nintendo eShop, Nintendo Switch