That's not entirely true. While profit is obviously the end goal, the profit being made needs to be large enough that the company can justify the resources being put into it. They have share holders to think about.

Don't combine the consoles. Until they can play each others games they are 2 separate devices that need their own libraries and sales to survive.

Anyways, I would say you need 20m consistently.

Considering the cost of marketing, design, production, and everything else, they would have to sell the consoles for a really hefty price (think tens of thousands) to make an $800 profit.

Or you're just joshing to prove a point. In that case, ignore.

40millon.

They WILL die if it continues like this.

relevant?
they just need to sell a lot of SW.....

OP; the majority of video game console developers have lost money on the systems themselves; almost always the concept is to make profit from the software.

Nintendo is not in any real danger currently, if they had simply marketed better and releasted the Wii U under a different name without the gamepad and another controller instead, they would be very high in profit this generation

a lot of people do not realize that numbers sold of systems/games, does not always equate to profit. Nintendo made more in the Gamecube/GBA generation than Sony did with the Playstation 2, yet the Playstation 2 is the best selling system of all time. 

at any rate you can't exactly put a pure number on the 'how much hardware does Nintendo need to sell?" because there are so many factors than can effect successful profiting with hardware, from the accessories included, bundles, games, etc. it's an unanswerable question

to be profitable, they also need to cover R&R cost, marketing and etc. So yes, if Nintendo make profit, they will stay relevant

None, they would still be relevant even if they left the hardware business.

They would still be relevant if their games weren't commercially available on any platform, and they were somehow able to make games for the sake of making games without losing all of their money due to selling nothing.

Does anyone know if the Wii U is profitable yet? Depending on how profitable the hardware is, software sales become more and more crucial. And its a chicken and egg scenario because if your hardware is a loss leader, and you can't get sky high attach rates for every title, you wind up with a situation where you need to sell more consoles to attached games... Do you get to a point where your profits from software are razor thin. Or worse yet, do you wind up with a situation where selling too much hardware becomes a problem?

20m should be plenty. They just need to lower the overhead and with their focus on profitability they should be fine. The games sell like they're addictive and that is what matters.

Besides if the fusion console plan works out, then they they should be selling over 75m consoles/handhelds.