pokoko on 26 January 2019
I think a lot of people badly underestimate the cost of initializing production of a unique physical product. It goes beyond labor x materials. This isn't like the video-game industry where the physical aspect is next to nothing because it utilizes existing production. They most likely had to go to a cardboard manufacturer and pay them to reconfigure their facility to produce something a lot more complex than normal. I'm betting early run waste was pretty high, too. It supposedly is manufactured in Japan, as well, which means it's more overhead from the start.
Total cost of start up had to be relatively expensive. Usually you count on volume to mitigate that.
