Playdate maker Panic is passing tariff refunds on to customers

Panic, maker of the crank-powered handheld Playdate, is forwarding Supreme Court-ordered tariff refunds back to customers.

The Playdate launched in 2022, but was hit with tariffs last year along with a wide swathe of gaming hardware.

After the Supreme Court ordered the US government to begin refunding those fees, Panic started emailing affected customers to let them know a refund was on its way to their original payment method, as spotted on LinkedIn and Reddit.

Anyone who bought a Playdate while the tariffs were in effect should receive an email, but if you think you should receive one and haven't, you can reach out directly to [email protected].

Conversely, Nintendo has said it does not owe people who bought its products at higher prices any rebates after the company raised prices in response to inflated US tariffs. The Japanese gaming giant is seeking dismissal of a class-action lawsuit arguing that consumers deserve a portion of the refund Nintendo could receive from the US government.

Nintendo raised the price of the original Switch console - including its OLED and Lite variants, as well as several other products in the US after sweeping, US-imposed tariffs went into effect, which imposed levies on imports from most countries in the world.

The tariffs caused several other consumer electronics - most of which are made in China, Vietnam and other manufacturing hubs in Asia - to also go up in price.