I've been around the forums doing a bit of reading and I've been getting numbers betweem $2-$20 Billion for the cost of the 360 this included R&D,Promotion,Price Reduction,RROD Extended Warranty ETC. It's pretty appraent that releasing this machine after the original XBOX would have caused worry among the investors however there where too many reasons not to leave the games market.
MS's desire to dominate every market
MS's own trojan horse , digital Downloads
The Growth of the gaming industry surpases music and movies (I believe)
MS probably thought the XBOX was a learning opportunity or their introduction into the market.
But anyway that's beside the point , recent price cut's and alota people talking about how MS has infinite cash reserves has got me thinking . How much money has MS lost and then profited from the 360 , do they really have the financial power to continue cost cutting their hardware ( keeping in mind that the whole point of being in the market is to make a profit ) there's no use price cutting to force demand if it's gonna send the gaming division into the red.
Anyone have any insight to offer ?
