Im sure the bargin bid is a last resort mechanism.  The Amazon Nintendo spat of eaerlier this year is a clear example of the constant fight between a retailer wanting to return product they feel is not selling, and the selling telling them to hold on to it.

That's a good question. If the clocked specs are to be believed (particularly on the CPU front) the WiiU probably costs around the same as the PS3 to manufacture (Perhaps not much more). It seems like the WiiU has an expensive R&D bill.

Yeah I know but following Nintendos patch will be the right choise... I don't know about you but I don't want a PS4 with slightly better graphics only... If a system isn't launched with someting other than a standard controller it won't catch up with the other (maybe) more innovative consoles... and if they release it past the consoles launch it won't work: for example playstation move or kinect... these are great devices but they didn't sold very well because they were seen as unnecessary gimmicks...as for the original Wii everybody thought it would be a whole new way to play game which is was...

the bottom line is that sony and microsoft won't be successful if they only release a more powerful system... they learned from the success of the wii and won't release a new console without providing new ways of playing games...IMO they will try to go casual...and thats more than obvious

Just gonna quote the article where this chart is from:

"Another way to look at it is to say publishers such as Activision and Electronic Arts receive $45 after retailers take a $15 cut. Publishers turn around and pay a $7 licensing fee to console manufacturers such as Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo. The cost of making, packaging and shipping game discs to stores carves up another $4. Finally, not all games sell, so the expense of returning unsold inventory eats up another $7.

That leaves publishers with about $27 per disc sold for development, marketing and other expenses. These are, of course, back-of-the-envelope averages. Each of these numbers can vary. For instance, a publisher could negotiate a smaller licensing fee with console manufacturers. And by deploying the Goldilocks method of inventory (not too much, not too little), they can also minimize returns. Tinkering with the margins in these ways lets companies tune their bottom lines."

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2010/02/anatomy-of-a-60-dollar-video-game.html

Really ? I've been posting that at least 10 times on VGC already ^^

Well I was right about the Wii U, I was just wrong about Nintendo management.

I liked the Wii U so much I invested in Nintendo stock - which is by the way, trading for about book value. You want to hear about some major gloom & doom talk about Nintendo, just take a look at their stock price. The fact that it continues to drop despite the 3DS sales, the Wii U sales...all of Nintendo's products, means investors have unanimously decided: Gloom & Doom for Nintendo. But that's not just rhetoric, that's voting with real money.

I was right about the Wii U. A touch-screen opens up so many tantalizing possibilities. Asymmetrical play of local multi-player, immersion into the gaming world like never before for single-player, taking the game off the T.V., or just controlling your television with the GamePad. All of them - awesome.

But I was wrong about Satoru Iwata and Reggie Fils-Aime. So many management mis-steps. Misinformation, misleading information, and outright lies. The communication from Nintendo around the Wii U's capabilities such as Reggie claiming 3rd party titles like Call of Duty "look dramatically better on the Wii U", to TVii - marketing it as a release day feature then "delaying it to December so it will be perfect" only to deliver an imperfect feature, to game-release dates being pushed back, to wildly wrong profitability & sales projections across the board given to investors, to huge uncertainty around the Wii U's actual supply & demand situation in the market-place...these things are all PR and business tactics issues from the top men at Nintendo, that I see little to no defense for.

I linked that a lot and the general consensus was that I was crazy for thinking it was accurate and sony looses billions on every game because they probablly make more like 10-12 dollars per game

I'm sad :(

It could be that they essentially get deals.  Aka they send out an independent invetory guy to check invetory levels (or just trust the big stores) and then give them credit proportional to what they have left in stock.   Afterall it saves them the trouble of paying to have it sent back to them.

Oh, okay.

Geez, that damn pie chart again Barozi?  You're always linking that thing!