I dont think many people make money on hardware in general. I remember speaking to my local shop owner about the PS3 and he told me how he made about £10 profit on each hardware unit sold and that this was common with all consoles. Also that he could make £10-£15 per game.
So for example you buy one console and over a period of a few years say ten games. You do the math. Goes to show why games/software matters!!