The console was subject to additional fees under the Trump administration’s original (and illegal) tariff regime.
Panic, software publisher and creator of Playdate, is refunding its customers all the American tariff fees they paid to purchase its console, Game developer reports. The Trump administration’s tariff regime was upheld as illegal following a Supreme Court ruling in February 2026, and Panic, like other companies, requested a refund. Unlike other companies, it does not pocket this money.
“When you ordered from us, we charged you the rate the U.S. government charged us for each Playdate we manufactured,” Panic said in an email notifying customers of the refund. “We treated it like any other tax and passed it on as a line item at checkout.”
Panic
According to a page on the company’s help center, Panic stopped applying its initial 19% pricing fee to new orders after April 21. It took until August to issue refunds because the company had to apply, receive its refund from the U.S. government, and then build a system to process refunds for the group of Playdate customers who paid more.
“It’s just not our money to keep, and it felt really good to give it back,” Cabel Sasser, CEO of Panic, said in an email to Game developer. “It’s an easy way to know you’ve made the right decision.”
This is not a decision made by many other companies, however. Even though President Donald Trump’s tariffs have affected the majority of companies selling electronics in the United States, and many of them – like Nintendo – have clearly opposed them, most have not considered offering refunds to customers. So far, shipping companies like FedEx, UPS, and DHL are among the few companies offering people a way to get their money back. This is not to say that the silence has gone unnoticed. Amazon, Sony and Nintendo each face class-action lawsuits alleging they are legally required to reimburse customers for pricing charges.
