Panic passes Trump tariff refunds back to the Playdate customers who paid them

Panic 将特朗普政府时期的关税退款返还给 Playdate 用户

Panic, the indie game publishers behind the quirky, yellow crank-sporting Playdate gaming handheld, is issuing refunds to customers who had to shoulder the cost of inappropriate tariffs imposed by the Trump administration this year.

Panic 是那款带有独特黄色摇杆的 Playdate 掌机的独立游戏发行商。该公司目前正在向那些不得不承担特朗普政府今年所征收的不当关税成本的客户发放退款。

The news comes months after the Supreme Court said in a February ruling that those tariffs were illegal, which also demanded that the administration refund the companies that had to temporarily pay the import taxes.

此前，美国最高法院在二月份的一项裁决中认定这些关税是非法的，并要求政府向那些被迫暂时支付进口税的公司退款。此消息正是在该裁决发布数月后传出的。

In an update posted on the Playdate help site this week, Panic noted that it has finally “begun to receive refunds of the tariffs we paid in the last year” and had consequently “refunded all tariffs charged to customers.”

在本周发布于 Playdate 帮助网站的一则更新中，Panic 指出他们终于“开始收到去年所缴关税的退款”，因此已经“将向客户收取的全部关税退还”。

In the initial version of that tariff note, Panic explained that it couldn’t afford to simply “absorb” the 19 percent tariffs it was being charged to import Playdate hardware made overseas because “our margins on Playdate are low.” As such, while the tax was in effect, it was passed along to customers as an explicit subtotal line item at the bottom of all Playdate orders.

在最初的关税说明中，Panic 解释称，由于“Playdate 的利润率很低”，他们无法自行“消化”进口海外制造的 Playdate 硬件时被征收的 19% 关税。因此，在关税生效期间，这笔费用被作为明确的子项列在所有 Playdate 订单的底部，转嫁给了客户。

That’s in contrast to companies like Nintendo, which vaguely cited “market conditions” and tariff “uncertainty” in raising the asking price of legacy hardware and some Switch 2 accessories last year.

这与任天堂等公司形成了鲜明对比。任天堂去年在提高旧款硬件和部分 Switch 2 配件的价格时，含糊地将其归因于“市场状况”和关税“不确定性”。

Speaking to Game Developer, Panic co-founder Cabel Sasser said filing paperwork to claw back these taxes and processing tariff refunds for customers took a fair bit of backend work. Still, he said returning that money to Playdate purchasers in the end was a no-brainer. “It’s just not our money to keep, and it felt really good to give it back,” Sasser said. “That’s an easy way to know you made the right decision.”

在接受《Game Developer》采访时，Panic 联合创始人 Cabel Sasser 表示，提交追回税款的文件并处理客户的关税退款涉及大量的后台工作。尽管如此，他认为最终将这笔钱退还给 Playdate 的购买者是理所应当的。“这笔钱本就不属于我们，退还回去感觉非常好，”Sasser 说道，“这是判断自己是否做出正确决定的最简单方式。”

“It just felt like the right thing to do,” Panic wrote in a refund email message shared on Reddit.

“这感觉就是正确的事情，”Panic 在 Reddit 上分享的一封退款邮件中写道。

Now it’s everyone else’s turn

现在轮到其他人了

Panic’s tariff refunds come as Nintendo is fighting off a proposed class-action lawsuit demanding similar refunds for tariff costs plaintiffs say the company passed on to consumers. In a July response to that lawsuit, Nintendo said that its customers “voluntarily pa[id] a purchase price and receive[d] a product in return,” and that there isn’t “anything ‘unjust’ about Nintendo retaining money that it may receive from the government as tariff refunds.”

在 Panic 进行关税退款之际，任天堂正面临一起拟议的集体诉讼，原告要求任天堂退还其转嫁给消费者的关税成本。在七月份针对该诉讼的回应中，任天堂表示其客户是“自愿支付购买价格并获得相应产品”，且“任天堂保留其可能从政府获得的关税退款并不存在任何‘不公正’之处”。

Nintendo itself was forced to sue the Trump administration earlier this year to get a court order for the prompt refund of the illegal tariffs it paid. In an earnings presentation this summer, Nintendo said it has received $300 million in tariff refunds and that those costs “were primarily borne by the company rather than passed on to consumers through product prices.”

任天堂本人今年早些时候曾被迫起诉特朗普政府，以获得法院命令，要求其立即退还所支付的非法关税。在今年夏天的一份财报演示中，任天堂表示已收到 3 亿美元的关税退款，并称这些成本“主要由公司承担，而非通过产品价格转嫁给消费者”。

Over 100 other companies, including Xbox maker Microsoft and PlayStation maker Sony, are facing similar consumer lawsuits seeking refunds for tariff-related price increases. Thus far, major shipping companies have been the most prominent corporations voluntarily offering tariff refunds directly to customers.

包括 Xbox 制造商微软和 PlayStation 制造商索尼在内的 100 多家公司，正面临类似的消费者诉讼，要求退还因关税导致的涨价费用。到目前为止，大型航运公司是主动向客户提供关税退款的最主要企业。