| Jimbo1337 said: How could selling 80 million units for both MS and Sony not turn a profit when Nintendo, the company that has been in the console business the longest, only surpassed that mark ONCE with the Wii? |
Simple. PS3 and 360 were sold at a loss by tremendous margin when they launched. I've heard some people on this site claim Sony took as much as a $200 loss on each launch PS3 sold, though I take that with a grain of salt. Nintendo consoles are traditionally made to be profitable from Day 1. The Wii U was planned to be right around the baseline with it cutting close to even after a 1-2 game attach rate, and the 3DS was originally supposed to be Day 1 profitable when it launched at $250, but Nintendo took a big loss on each sold after the price was quickly slashed to $170.
The reason why last gen was so long was because Sony and MS planned for their consoles to have long lifespans and wanted to stretch it out and recoup as much money as possible.
