Nintendo's philosophy was always to turn a profit, and I guess these numbers prove that. They were going to do the same with regards the 3DS/end of Wii generation but Tsunamis and all kinds of stuff happened, which will force them to make a smaller profit than expected. I expect Ninty to continue the same profit making philosophy with WiiU, from the out, while MS and Sony again have huge R&D costs for their next systems which try to please the hardcore gamers.

I always say the video game industry is the only industry in the world where the consumer gets new hardware/product at substantially lower than what it costs to develop.

Someone should update this. It's very interesting to see.

that is interesting!

UPDATE PLZ

Ah cool, I was asking for this sort of thread a week ago or so.

Quoting because you're still part of this site and a valid question.

Until 3DS and WiiU, Nintendo always launched hardware for profit. While N64/GC didnt' make a lot, the GBA did... by the truckload.

It's true.  Their first ever operating loss was FY 2012.  Even during GCN's weak years, GBA carried them into profits each time.  N64 was never weak enough to lose money.  It was a decent seller throughout it's run.  Install base was 10 million higher than GameCube, and software development back then was far cheaper.

I don't see how Sony could ever hope to recoup their investment in PS3 software/hardware with losses like that. Those numbers between 2006-2010 are absolutely insane. Even if they make $500 million a year in profit from here on out, it would take a very, very long time just for them to break even in loss vs. profit.

it doesnt look like the RROD helped M$ out any those first 2 years of x360 lifespan.
I wonder the real number of 360s are out there, i went through 3 rrod systems. i eventually waited for the 360slim to come out and i didnt regret it.

Goes to show you Nintendo knows what they are doing despite everyone claiming they should drop hardware and move along to software.