Probably to maximize the profit margin. Sony is going through hard times at the moment.

Looks like the X1 price reduction is starting to wear off which means MS really are gonna be screwed next year unless they make that price drop permanent and bring it over to Europe. Lol I wonder how many children will be mad at Christmas when they open their present and find a X1 instead of a PS4 which their parents bought for them cause it was cheaper and they don't know anything about gaming thinking its the same thing as a PS4 but cheaper.

I ain't say its loads but I am saying there will be a few children disappointed like that.

EDIT: I have to add that it is dangerous giving a consol a temporary price reduction to boost sales because smart people will wait to buy the X1 after January when the full price returns as they know MS will reduce the price yet again so they'll wait for that sale which might take away sales for MS from January. Think about it. If I was going to buy an X1 next year after hearing about this years price reduction then I would wait until CHRISTMAS next year when I could but it cheaper with a few free games. How many here would do the same??/

Well, since we now have all the November numbers, I decided to make this chart. I'm pretty sure VGC doesn't have a chart that displays sales numbers like this, so I just decided to quickly make one. I don't know how other people feel about it, but I like viewing the numbers this way. 

More consoles to sell to doesn't necessarily mean more software sales for Nintendo's ip. If u compare N64/GC to Wii for many of Nintendo's ip, the sales are fairly similar. This is of course excluding the Wii series but we can safely say those won't sell very well on PS4/XB1.

Mario 64 & Mario Galaxy had very similar sales, same goes for Mario Sunshine vs Galaxy 2, Ocarina of Time vs Twilight Princess, Majora's Mask vs Skyward Sword, Donkey Kong 64 vs DKC Returns, Kirby 64 vs Return to Dreamland, Paper Mario TTYD vs Super Paper Mario, Battalion Wars vs Battalion Wars 2, Fire Emblem PoR vs Fire Emblem RD, Pokemon Colosseum vs Pokemon Battle Revolution, Mario sports titles sold about the same on Wii and GC, Metroid Prime/Prime 2 vs Prime 3/Other M, Animal Crossing vs Animal Crossing City Folk.

The only games to sell substantially better were games that focused on simultaneous, 4-player local multiplayer. Mario Kart & 2D Mario had extremely strong sales and Mario Party & Smash Bros sold much better than N64/GC versions. There is no guarantee that releasing games on Playstation/Xbox will increase software sales by a considerable margin. Even if they did sell better, it would need to be enough to counter the royalty fees they would have to pay to Sony/Microsoft and the royalty fees they would lose from 3rd parties, along with revenue earned from hardware sales and accessory sales.

So perhaps it would work out for Nintendo but it seems far too risky right now, considering that they are starting to post profits again. Yes they made some mistakes that caused them to lose money for a few years (3DS launch price too high which led to massive price cut, selling Wii U at a high price along with selling at a loss) but as long as they sell their hardware at a more reasonable price right off the bat while making a small profit on each unit sold then they shouldn't face the same problem. Also things like Amiibo & Quality of Life can be successful investments for them that bring in some extra profits for the company.