Nintendo revealed how much money it was losing on each Wii U console sold with the release Wednesday of its 2012 third quarter financial report.
A note about the Wii U in the financial statement for the third quarter ending Dec. 31, 2012 reads, "Owing to the fact that the “Wii U” hardware sales have a negative impact on Nintendo’s profits, the operating loss was 5.8 billion yen."
Through the magic of math, 5.8 billion yen converts to $63.6 million. Nintendo also reported that it sold 3.06 million Wii U consoles worldwide through the end of 2012. That means that the average loss per console sold comes out to be $20.79.
Console makers selling their consoles at a loss is nothing new for Sony and Microsoft who have taken the razor and razor blade approach to their gaming divisions. That's typically not the case for Nintendo though as it has always tried to make a profit on the consoles that it launches.
The only other recent example was the Nintendo 3DS which initially sold at a profitable $249.99 when it released March 2011. When sales weren't meeting expectations, Nintendo dropped the price to $169.99 in August of that year which made the handheld unprofitable. The 3DS returned to profitability by June 2012.
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Via: Nintendo
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