I believe Nintendo sold the Gamecube at a slight loss but generally Nintendo makes money on the consoles, the dev kits, and the games. They make money in every department. So the fact that Sony lost money on this particular console is interesting and isn't "water is wet" triviality.
by Anonymous Coward writes:
on Wednesday February 03, 2021 @05:07PM (#61024650)
Ninendo made money on each and every Gamecube sold.
Back when I was a game dev, Nintendo invited us to their Redmond office to preview to Gamecube harsware about six months before release. We were told that the console would retail at $149 and they would be selling at a profit. When Sony and Microsoft released their hardware at much higher prices, Nintendo saw their opportunity to raise their prices to $200 and make even more money - so they did.
Back then the scuttlebutt was Sony and Microsoft needed to sell seven or so games to each console to break even. The next gen stuff needed around 13 to break even. I have no idea what it is today, I've been out a long time.
Subsidize razor to profit off blades (Score:3, Insightful)
Consoles are loss-leaders. It's commissions on game sales they really want.
Re: (Score:3)
Consoles are loss-leaders. It's commissions on game sales they really want.
Exactly. I'm not sure how the concept of a loss-leader is so foreign here. Grocery stores have done this for decades to get you in the door.
IMHO, the price isn't low enough. Provide the console for free. Charge for the games. You'll probably get more customers that way.
... because it's not always true? (Score:0)
Re:... because it's not always true? (Score:1)
Back when I was a game dev, Nintendo invited us to their Redmond office to preview to Gamecube harsware about six months before release. We were told that the console would retail at $149 and they would be selling at a profit. When Sony and Microsoft released their hardware at much higher prices, Nintendo saw their opportunity to raise their prices to $200 and make even more money - so they did.
Back then the scuttlebutt was Sony and Microsoft needed to sell seven or so games to each console to break even. The next gen stuff needed around 13 to break even. I have no idea what it is today, I've been out a long time.