Sony faces class action lawsuit for allegedly profiting from tariff-related price hikes

Gamers filed a class-action lawsuit against Sony, claiming the company received a “substantial windfall” from price increases resulting from the Trump administration’s pricing policy. The lawsuit was filed in California earlier this month and seeks reimbursement for anyone who purchased a PlayStation console during the pricing period that led to the price increase.

To understand this lawsuit, we have to go back to when President Trump imposed drastic tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act in 2025. At that time, Sony increased the prices of its PS5 in August 2025, citing a “challenging economic environment.” A few months later, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that Trump did not have the authority to impose tariffs in this way, meaning the federal government had to reimburse the affected companies. While some companies are reporting that they are already starting to get refunds, the class action claims that Sony decided to pass on increased import costs to customers, while also being entitled to refunds, resulting in a “double recovery windfall.”

This isn’t the first time gamers have filed a lawsuit over Trump’s pricing policies since a similar class-action lawsuit was filed against Nintendo in April. However, Nintendo also filed a lawsuit against the US government for financial harm from the tariffs. On an even larger scale, Amazon is facing a class action lawsuit for the same reasons as Sony.