Playdate maker Panic is refunding tariff surcharges to customers after receiving its own refund from the US government after the Supreme Court ruled that President Trump’s tariffs were an unlawful use of emergency powers.
According to Game Developer, Panic added a clearly labeled tariff line item – later confirmed at 19% – to Playdate orders during the period the charges applied, after initially trying to absorb the cost itself.
“There was a specific window of time this year where we charged tariffs to customers,” Panic co-founder Cabel Sasser explained in an e-mail to Game Developer.
“We tried absorbing the cost for a while, but that was financially difficult for a small company like ours. We made the tariff a very obvious and clearly labeled line item on checkout for any customer affected.”
He added: “It’s just not our money to keep, and it felt really good to give it back. That’s an easy way to know you made the right decision.”
Companies affected by the ruling had to individually apply for a share of the refund and retailers including Target, Home Depot and Walmart received billions of dollars back, while Nintendo confirmed a $300m tariff refund in its own quarterly filings, money it has opted to keep.
The Japanese company, along with several other firms, are now facing lawsuits over that decision, with plaintiffs arguing customers knowingly paid the tariffs at the time of purchase.