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Wii Hardware To Be Profitable At Launch
Next Generation reports on comments by Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime, stating that the Wii will be profitable out of the gate. It's been well-publicized that the consoles offered by Sony and Microsoft are subsidized by those companies. From the article: "Nintendo, however, has traditionally avoided the 'razor and blades' business model by selling its consoles above what they cost to make. Fils-Aime confirmed to Reuters that the Wii would carry on the tradition. 'We will make a profit on the entire Wii proposition out of the box -- hardware and software,' he said. 'That really is a very different philosophy versus our competitors. We are a company that competes only in the interactive entertainment space so we have to make a profit on every thing we do.'" The comment is undoubtedly meant to assuage analysts nervous about the relatively late release date and somewhat higher than expected price for the Wii.
To look at it from another angle, Sony and Microsoft's strategies are only profitable when they max out the number of consoles they sell. The larger their userbase, the more game profits that roll in. Both companies need to be number 1, and thus the struggle. Nintendo on the other hand doesn't need to be number 1 at all. By turning a profit on each console plus each game, they're safe as a niche player and even better positioned if it really does take off. For me, I'll be first in line to get a Wii based on the type of games available and the novelty of their design.