Report: Nintendo banks $6 on each Wii sold

Wow, that Forbes is poor

The bigger story here is how poorly the regular media reports on the gaming industry. Gee, thanks guys. And Forbes no less? I expected better - even ten minutes in a local store would've garnered correct pricing on the systems, and they of all people should be able to get accurate numbers on systems sold. Given Reggie said the Wii was profitable from the get-go, that they've probably already begun making the Wii in a more cost-effective way (like every other console maker out there), and these errors? I'm going to say that $6 is either out-of-date or just plain wrong. Pity we can't get the real numbers...

ive had my wii for about 9 months now, i only use it for porn......ill play my xbox 360 thank you

Good for Nintendo. After being in last place in the previous generation, it's good to know that they're doing successful. Now, how about you announce a release date for Pikmin 3?

Are these games that Microsoft will sell include content sold on the Xbox Marketplace? Anyways, I really stopped caring about console numbers and whatnot, because God delivered something called Netflix to the Xbox. Ever since then, all I care about is my PC and Xbox 360. PC for my Wrath of the Lich King/Crysis craving, Xbox 360 for the movies. And, think of it this way. Nintendo is like the United States at the Summer Olympics. Scored alot of Medals in all categories. Xbox is like China at the Summer Olympics. Scored fewer total medals, but had the highest number of Gold Medals (Aka Editor's Choices)(Playstation is up there too) So really, who won? Up for you to decide I suppose.

Good news. Yeah, I'll admit there are a LOT of bad games for wii, but there are some real classics as well, and 2009 looks promising with the new punchout, sin and punishment, the conduit, and madworld.

weird how that works

Lindbergh2007- "You know, I've come to the conclusion that it really does matter how many Wii are sold, Nintendo could sell millions but we all know who's buying them and the fact that the games are not selling. Novelties are fickle things, and Nintendo has already abandoned thier base and these regular "we like Wii cause it's fun and don't car about games" folks will soon get burned out on Wii and it will die as being remembered as a "novelty console" with low-powered technology,party games, and lack of decent third party support instead of a great console. Nintendo has won this console race( even i'll admit that) but for all the wrong reasons. " I'm not sure why people keep saying games aren't selling for Wii when you consistently have them taking most spots on the top 10 games each month. Even this very article mentions that they are expecting 220 mil games sold for Wii, compared to only 125 mil for Xbox and 120 mil for PS3. The difference of course is that since 60% of those 220 mil come from Nintendo, they make a bigger profit margin on their games than Microsoft or Sony. The fact they actually make a small profit on their consoles too is just icing.

I don't buy that for a second. Despite what people may think there is a decent amount of tech involved in Wii, especially considering how small it is. But I don't buy for a second that they only make $6 per console. It has to be at least $50.

Glad to hear that Nintendo is doing good :).(I wunder if the wii 2 will be good I herd about it but people don't really know much about it because it ain't till 2011 till it comes out :(.)

i would have thought if the wii is $399 (australian) they would be making $389 proffit because they seem to be old gamecubes in new packaging.

wow, hey, even if it is only $6 its better than losing cash.

6 x 35 mil... thats not even half of what gta iv reaped in for rockstar!

Trooperdx3117 great anthology. You know, I've come to the conclusion that it really doesn't matter how many Wii are sold, Nintendo could sell millions but we all know who's buying them and the fact that the games are not selling. Novelties are fickle things, and Nintendo has already abandoned thier base and these regular "we like Wii cause it's fun and don't car about games" folks will soon get burned out on Wii and it will die as being remembered as a "novelty console" with low-powered technology,party games, and lack of decent third party support instead of a great console. Nintendo has won this console race( even i'll admit that) but for all the wrong reasons.

I never liked nintendo. Never.

the hate is relentless :(

don't expect much reduction in Wii cost. It's not like they are using new expensive tech. The Wii consoles' technology (save the controller) was already cheap at launch. old CPU, DVD tech.

The Wii is a Cube with a different controller. They are more likely to make a profit of over $100 per console...

GBA failing and Gamecube, a system with a crapload of great exclusives was awful, huh?Shyeah, i love how people who haven't owned a Nintendo system since the SNES like to badmouth what they have no clue about.

bullcrap. i think wii first came out at around $200 in japan without wiiplay. this means they were losing $50~ in japan? they're making more than $60 per wiiplay bundle, and possibly more due to lower manufacturing cost compare to what it cost 2 years ago

Even tho i don't currently own a wii, i have a lot of love for nintendo as i grew up playing their games. glad to hear they are doing well.

I have a dream! A dream that one day I can just buy one damn system. A dream that Nintendo dudes, Xbox guys, and PS3 peeps can all unite and create one system that will full fill all my gaming needs. A system that will let me get up and bowl. Then allow me to slaughter hordes with all my friends all in alittlebigplanet that we created. I have a dream!

i have to say. i thought nintendo was going down the drain with a failing gameboy and an awful gamecube. i thought that nintendo couldn't keep up with the 360 and the ps3. but i was sure wrong. i'm impressed with how the wii has done and i am excited to see what the wii and nintendo can do in the future.

wow theres alot of haters, either way this is impressive but forbes stats seem to be off Wii just need to improve the online, but considering that its free its not that bad, and 3rd party needs to improve so 2009 will determine the support the wii will get its the make or break year but maybe the profits are down because of like they said the strentghing Yen and the crappy North american economy either way profit is profit imagine what kind of a hit sony and microsoft are taking

Forbes = Fail.

How can we believe the $6.00 income when Forbes had all the other information it seems wrong?

Meh, they're eventually going to run out of people to sell to. There's only so many casual soccer moms out in the world.

six dollar profit for each wii sold? that 210 million dollars [thats surprising given the fact that nintendo spend billions of dollars on marketing campaigns].

"now if only nintendo can brag about the game sales. "yah, we made millions by making wii music!"" Did you not read the article? "Nintendo will reportedly be responsible for 60 percent of the 220 million games sold for the Wii this year." They can brag about their game sales. That being said it just goes to show you how CRAPPY 3rd party support is for the Wii. And 6$ per console? I doubt it. But even at that much, that means they've made a profit of nearly 210 million...which sounds damn good to me.

I remember it was $50 a system.

The money lies on the games... That's what's important...

wow, don't use forbes as a source. that's what i got out of this.

So this is a $6 profit after they buy all the parts and pay all the assembly line workers? I guess that makes sense. Still better than losing money on each one, besides, sell 35 million of them and it starts to add up. Good job Nintendo, now you can make a new system, now that all the "new gamers" demographic you've reached are bored. I've just play the virtual console games for the past 4 months.

It's got to be more then $6 profit per system. That makes no sense when comparing it to other consoles out there and figuring how much they sell for this late in the game.

now if only nintendo can brag about the game sales. "yah, we made millions by making wii music!"

Hey guys...these are ESTIMATES by ANALYSTS. Not sourced from the only entity that can tell you an accurate number: Nintendo.

smackedfortrust I meant at launch... meaning it never came w/ blu-ray in the 1st place.. and just use DVD-9 format.. since duel-hdmi out-put was cut out.. before launch to save cost...

I have a tough time believing this when Reggie stated at the Wii's launch that they were making a profit on every Wii sold. With economies of scale and the mass production they have, I have a tough time believing they only make $6 profit per console. Maybe that was the profit at launch, but I have to believe they're making more per console now.

<< LINK REMOVED >> there you go. This article is BS

spoon si ps3 cant drop blue ray unless you dont want to play some of their games.

This is COMPLETELY wrong. There was a report awhile ago that said they were making almost 50 bucks a system. I think Reggie even said something to that effect.

My sources lead me to believe they were making $11 on each one sold. Still, $6 each is quite a tidy profit.

Not all of them, Shadow_Fax87, just most. If we're lucky, we'll see some decent third-party games soon. I can name a few someone above-average titles now, but this is about it (in my book): -Geometry Wars: Galaxies (you can't have too much GW) -Blast Works: Build, Trade, Destroy (a niche title, yes, but it's competent) -Rayman Raving Rabbids (not original, but worth some laughs) -The Conduit (sci-fi FPS that's not out yet, but looks great so far) -Worms: A Space Oddity (aw, come on. It's WORMS!) A paltry selection, yes, but at least we can't say it's impossible to make a good 3rd party Wii game, just difficult.

Wii has become the new "Monopoly". Meaning it's something you can do with all your family members, do at parties with friends and something an infant to a senior citizen can enjoy. None of those people I mentioned care about "riveting" game play. Fascinating story and characters. Beautiful art direction and sound track. On-line game play with friends from around the world and so on and so forth. You have seen the Wii commercials right?!?! That's the market! So ... are you people really that surprised Wii lacks any decent games? Truly? Is it really such a stretch that only the 1st party games are any good (depsite being ports or sequels)? Hmm? C'mon ... really? I can't believe that.

Aparently there are idiots who don't know the difference between Profit and Revenue...

even tho... nintendo took a gamble on the wii, it worked and profit for every system sold is awsome.. who knoes how much a hit the over priced PS3 is gettin.. $100 lost? if sony drop blu-ray & wifi from them system @ launch.. and we could see a $249.99 PS3 by now...

@Petri87 Nope, its not BS...Microsoft has other sources of income that its XBOX 360 hardware. Game companies generally make their profits not on the systems themselves, but the accessories, liscenses, and first party games they sell.

Yea I still don't get why people buy a wii I have a 360 and a wii and the wii is horrible. Just brawl for a week and glaxy for a week and its terrible i'ma sell it.

If Nintendo is only making $6 per Wii, think about how much the 360 and PS3 must be in the red for every console sold.