Doing so ‘would not support the business’
One constant in video game console sales over the past several years is that the cost of manufacturing the system almost always outweighs its final price. Traditionally, platform-holders take this loss to get the consoles in homes, and then recoup those costs through game and accessory sales.
That won’t be the case when Nintendo releases the still-codenamed NX next spring. In an investors’ Q&A session, Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima said that the company won’t take a loss on the NX at launch.
“We are not thinking of launching the hardware at a loss,” Kimishima stated. “When Wii U was launched, the yen was very strong. I am assuming that situation will not repeat itself. Selling at a loss at launch would not support the business, so we are keeping that mind in developing NX.”
While this tells us something about Nintendo’s intentions, it doesn’t really tell us anything else about the NX itself. Without knowledge of a price point or any confirmed specs, we can’t really guess with any sincerity how the system will be put together. It could be underwhelming and cheap, beefy and expensive, or somewhere in between that. Whatever it is, Nintendo’s not eating the cost.
Q&A Summary [Nintendo via Eurogamer]