The Nintendo way: cheap production, profitable games

In an article in the New York Times, we get an inkling of what it means to be Nintendo. Speaking simply, they believe the cheaper cost of Wii game production and the virtual console will definitely help make the Wii a very profitable enterprise in the next  generation of consoles.

How so? Well, the NYT first explains the difference between Nintendo’s marketing strategy and that of Microsoft‘s and Sony‘s. While the PS3 and 360 lose money with each console sold, they recoup their losses through selling games. Nintendo, however, makes their consoles cheap, with a profit of around 50 bucks for each sale. Augmented by their games, the selling price definitely seems to infer immense profitability for the console, even if they don’t sell as many as the Xbox 360 or the PlayStation 3.

Satoru Iwata, President of Nintendo, also added one important selling point of the Wii: the virtual console. As a first-party developer, they already have a ton of games that would be up for grabs, but with the support of other developers such as Konami, Sega, and Square Enix, their arsenal becomes even more powerful. Powerful enough for Iwata to make the closing statement, “In the long run, I think the virtual console could become one of the most significant revenue streams for Nintendo.”

Oddly enough, it seems fitting that we end this piece in the same way.

In an article in the New York Times, we get an inkling of what it means to be Nintendo. Speaking simply, they believe the cheaper cost of Wii game production and the virtual console will definitely help make the Wii a very profitable enterprise in the next  generation of consoles.

How so? Well, the NYT first explains the difference between Nintendo’s marketing strategy and that of Microsoft‘s and Sony‘s. While the PS3 and 360 lose money with each console sold, they recoup their losses through selling games. Nintendo, however, makes their consoles cheap, with a profit of around 50 bucks for each sale. Augmented by their games, the selling price definitely seems to infer immense profitability for the console, even if they don’t sell as many as the Xbox 360 or the PlayStation 3.

Satoru Iwata, President of Nintendo, also added one important selling point of the Wii: the virtual console. As a first-party developer, they already have a ton of games that would be up for grabs, but with the support of other developers such as Konami, Sega, and Square Enix, their arsenal becomes even more powerful. Powerful enough for Iwata to make the closing statement, “In the long run, I think the virtual console could become one of the most significant revenue streams for Nintendo.”

Oddly enough, it seems fitting that we end this piece in the same way.