Playdate maker Panic is refunding tariff fees to customers

What the report says

Nicole Carpenter,Diego ArgüelloAugust 26, 20262 Min ReadImage via PanicCrank-driven handheld Playdate maker Panic emailed customers this week to spread some good news: The company received tariff refunds from the United States government, and is passing that along to customers. People who purchased a Playdate from Panic during the period in which the tariffs were charged will get the refunds."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 toGame Developer confirming the news. "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."Panic also set up a website to explain the 19% tariff surcharge.The United States Supreme Court ruled that United States president Donald Trump's tariffs were not a legal use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Companies impacted by the tariffs had to apply for their share of the refund. Some companies, like Nintendo, are keeping the refund money. (Nintendo and other companies are being sued over this. The main argument is that buyers chose to purchase respective items knowing that tariffs would be charged.)Retailers like Target, Home Depot, and Walmart were refunded billions of dollars.

Nintendo's tariff refund was $300 million, the company reported in its quarterly filings.Few companies are seemingly choosing to give that refund back to customers. It's largely shipping companies like UPS that are refunding customers. Playdate is one of a few companies that is passing along the refund money. The refund amount a customer will get back depends on how much they purchased."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."He continued: "Still, it took a lot of work for us to file all the paperwork to get the refund from the government, and it took work to build a little system to process the refund, and sometimes it felt like, wait, why are we seemingly doing more work than even gigantic companies are on this issue?

Key details

That felt weird. But I guess it makes sense in a way, because our small size means we’re far more directly affected by something like a tariff."Sasser said he hopes Panic never has to talk about tariffs again. "From start to finish on this whole tariff whim, all I could think about is all the cool stuff we could be working on instead," he said.Top StoriesTariffs & Pricing ChangesAbout the AuthorsNicole CarpenterColumnist, Game DeveloperNicole Carpenter is a veteran reporter who has been covering the video game industry for over a decade.See more from Nicole CarpenterDiego ArgüelloContributing Editor, News, GameDeveloper.comDiego Nicolás Argüello is a freelance journalist and critic from Argentina.

Video games helped him to learn English, so now he covers them for places like The New York Times, NPR, Rolling Stone, and more. He also runs Into the Spine, a site dedicated to fostering and supporting new writers, and co-hosted Turnabout Breakdown, a podcast about the Ace Attorney series. He’s most likely playing a rhythm game as you read this.See more from Diego Argüello