So both the PSVita and the WiiU sold around 3 million units last year... both way under the expectations/hopes of Sony and Nintendo... but which one burns the money faster, if it doesn't sell well?

To begin with, the production costs of 1 handheld is much lower than the production costs of 1 home console.

Additionally, the Vita has many components, which are also mass produced for smartphones and tablets... and these costs are falling rapidly. Look what you had to pay for an unsubsidized smartphone with a 200-250 ppi-display & touchscreen and a QuadCore-ARM-SoC two years ago and now.

The production costs of the WiiU will fall, too... but not so fast.

Then there are transportation costs. The dimensions and the weight of a packaged handheld box are much lower than the dimensions / weight of a home console box. The difference for the components (they also have to be transported to the manufacturer) is even higher.

Finally we have the precious storage space of Amazon and many other retailers. Due to the much smaller box, an unsold Vita uses way less storage space than an unsold WiiU and produces less storage costs.

I think you just answered your own question.

jup the wiiu will burn more money than the vita.

Probably the one that's making the least money per sale.

So it doesn't matter if the Vita does bad, it's not burning money at all. Good idea from Sony, focus on home consoles and let the handheld console die, after all it's not burning too much money.

You should ask Nintendo's forecast for the fiscal year.

i'm pretty sure Sony makes a bit of money on every Vita sold. While sales have been slow, i don't think they've lost any money on the handheld.

On the other hand Nintendo still makes a lot of money from first party SW on the Wii U while Sony does not on the vita. Who knows the specifics though for either console.

Home console. PS3 put a Ultra Combo on Sony's Finances. The Vita is still in Practice mode working on its combos.

The Vita is making a profit. The production cost without distribution and marketing at release was already 160 dollars (3G) and factoring the rest in it made overall small profits. So they had a big margin to play with and now the price is around 180 dollars and I assume the cost of production is around 100-125 dollars for the LCD version. So the Vita is doing mediocre. Software sales are perhaps the problem because of the small install base. So Sony should release the Vita 2000 worldwide with new announcements and an even better price. 150 dollars would be very interesting for a lot of people. And the 500 dollar PS4+Vita bundle must become fact and I see the Vita going to do very good.