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News \ How much does the Wii really cost?

According to leaked documentation from Nintendo distributors the Wii only costs US $ 158.30 to make.

Graphic chip 29.60
CPU 13.00
DRAM 7.80
Optical disk drive 31.00
Power supply 11.30
Manufacturing cost 19.50

Cost total 158.30
Wholesale price 195.99

Meaning on the first few days of sales Nintendo profited around 80 million dollars. This shows that Nintendo has a lot of room to lower the price. What confuses me is the price of the controller isnt on the list.

- Ravi

Submitted by MrWii submit to digg 19/12/2006 3112 11

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Comments

the-o
Kudos: 1,091
Mates: 95
the-o says:  
wisconsin here its also 250 at best buy and every where else in wisconsin
30/12/2006
in your brain rummaging through your thoughts.
iddqd
Kudos: 416
Mates: 242
iddqd says:  
Corporate hype? Nintendo are doing it worse than anyone else this time around, and you all fell for it. Think about it, would you buy the Wii if it didn't have the Wii-mote? That's the only thing that makes it different. Xbox 360 doesn't have ONE feature that it relies on to be a good console. It has a range of features that won't ever be possible on the Wii. And I know for a fact that for a little while it was costing them around $700 US which is around $1000 AU to make the Xbox 360. Trust me, I read a LOT, I'm a big nerd and it's just about all I do...
24/12/2006
Knee deep in the dead...
qwertywii
Kudos: 146
Mates: 22
qwertywii says:  
All the wii's in stores in the u.s. where i live cost $250! And im in oregon so theres no sales tax! someone from the U.S. respond! is my small town getting ripped off?
23/12/2006
Redmond, Deschutes county, central Oregon, rural Oregon, Oregon, pacific northwest, United states, North America, northern Hemisphere, Western Hemisphere, earth, inner solar system, solar system, Milk
tagged
Kudos: 10
Mates: 0
tagged says:  


That's how much it cost them at launch, and yes, they were losing millions of dollars. But they'll profit in the long term. Wii on the other hand is cheap, cheap and gimmicky. Do a little research? I'm smarter than you'll ever be. And I don't go for corporate hype.



No, it didn't cost them 1000$ to manufacture at launch. As I said in the next post, it was estimated to be no more than $750... Which is a big difference in cost. That's what I meant by do a little research. It's not a question of who's smarter, something difficult to conclude online (wow I have an IQ of 138+, and a member of mensa... but can I prove that? hell no, so why get defensive. I wasn't insulting your intelligence by stating you require research before posting).

And for you to comment on the Wii being cheap and gimmicky just shows the lack of research you are willing to put into your posts. Corporate hype? where did that come from?
23/12/2006
Brisbane
iddqd
Kudos: 416
Mates: 242
iddqd says:  

tagged said:

iddqd said: Wow, Xbox 360 manufacturing cost; $1000

Wii manufacturing cost; $158??

Does that tell you ANYTHING guys??



Whoa.. $1000 for Xbox 360?? Perhaps you should do a little research before posting, just last month it was announced that the 360's production costs were reduced by 40% from its initial cost at launch. Meaning that now MS will be making a small profit from each 360 sold. So sony are the only one's in the console race losing money on hardware sales, and the only ones without my hard earned money

So to answer your question.. No it doesn't tell us anything



That's how much it cost them at launch, and yes, they were losing millions of dollars. But they'll profit in the long term. Wii on the other hand is cheap, cheap and gimmicky. Do a little research? I'm smarter than you'll ever be. And I don't go for corporate hype.
22/12/2006
Knee deep in the dead...
chambalam
Kudos: 2,513
Mates: 130
chambalam says:  
Yeh but take a look at the PS3. it costs 1000 dollars for the 60gb and a blu-ray player is $1500 in itself. they were gonna put a dual core proccesor in the PS3. NOT EVERYONE IS MADE OF MONEY SONY
22/12/2006
Ballina, NSW. 1 hour south of queensland on coast
wibble
Kudos: 15
Mates: 0
wibble says:  

tfresh said: man that list is missing so much stuff.

- various miscellaneous overheads



Yeah, lets not forget operating-system software costs, shipping, bandwidth for wii.com, patent protection and/or licensing.

As if a car is just the cost of it's parts.
(ok, maybe that's a bad example, since spare parts are way overpriced)

Oooh, and I forgot GST!



22/12/2006
Lake Macquarie, NSW
Scheska
Kudos: 143
Mates: 33
Scheska says:  
And then I remember how much the N64 cost my mom...
22/12/2006
Providence, Rhode Island
tagged
Kudos: 10
Mates: 0
tagged says:  

Killamatt said: And wouldn't Microsoft be making a loss?



From what they estimated, MS makes anywhere from $1 to $30 from each Xbox 360 Premium sold. That's from selling it to the retailers, who then up the price to make their profit. It never started out costing $1000 though, the highest estimated production cost was $720. Given that, its now estimated to be no more than $430. More realistically its easily under the $400 mark, some suggest $330. This is all US dollars of course.
22/12/2006
Brisbane
Killamatt
Kudos: 3,708
Mates: 525
Killamatt says:  
And wouldn't Microsoft be making a loss?
22/12/2006
Sydney
Killamatt
Kudos: 3,708
Mates: 525
Killamatt says:  
Nice information you got there.
22/12/2006
Sydney
tagged
Kudos: 10
Mates: 0
tagged says:  

iddqd said: Wow, Xbox 360 manufacturing cost; $1000

Wii manufacturing cost; $158??

Does that tell you ANYTHING guys??



Whoa.. $1000 for Xbox 360?? Perhaps you should do a little research before posting, just last month it was announced that the 360's production costs were reduced by 40% from its initial cost at launch. Meaning that now MS will be making a small profit from each 360 sold. So sony are the only one's in the console race losing money on hardware sales, and the only ones without my hard earned money

So to answer your question.. No it doesn't tell us anything
22/12/2006
Brisbane
Killamatt
Kudos: 3,708
Mates: 525
Killamatt says:  
Wow now that doesn't make much profit.
22/12/2006
Sydney
iddqd
Kudos: 416
Mates: 242
iddqd says:  
Wow, Xbox 360 manufacturing cost; $1000

Wii manufacturing cost; $158??

Does that tell you ANYTHING guys??
22/12/2006
Knee deep in the dead...
Cavolo
Kudos: 12
Mates: 0
Cavolo says:  
Ahh... see... I didn't think about that
What if you would leave the cpu alone and do just the rest?
or I am too naiive again?

Critical said:

Cavolo said: More interesting would be: can I open my wii and dump more powerfull components in?

I've done it with my laptop, why not with my wii?
(cpu, gpu, ram, faster wifi, real surround sound)

Would be nice, who is unscrewing his/her Wii?



Not without rewriting the firmware and getting games to auto scale based on hardware

21/12/2006
Sydney
qwertywii
Kudos: 146
Mates: 22
qwertywii says:  
im from the U.S., and all the wii's ive seen have been $250.00 U.S. Where are you getting your numbers?
21/12/2006
Redmond, Deschutes county, central Oregon, rural Oregon, Oregon, pacific northwest, United states, North America, northern Hemisphere, Western Hemisphere, earth, inner solar system, solar system, Milk
Serega
Kudos: 1,744
Mates: 83
Serega says:  
yay, good news, we can be looking forward to nintendo's new console, whatever that will be.

total profit for nintendo so far:
EDIT: $69,821,591.87 American dollars
EDIT: $88,990,048.27 Australian Dollars

PLEASE NOTE: this may not be correct because some shops gave discounts on their wiis, plus I haven't added the profit from all the accesories.
21/12/2006
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
In a galaxy far far away: (melbourne, vic)
Critical
Kudos: 49
Mates: 2
Critical says:  

Cavolo said: More interesting would be: can I open my wii and dump more powerfull components in?

I've done it with my laptop, why not with my wii?
(cpu, gpu, ram, faster wifi, real surround sound)

Would be nice, who is unscrewing his/her Wii?



Not without rewriting the firmware and getting games to auto scale based on hardware
21/12/2006
Brisbane, Queensland
elgoonties
Kudos: 3,463
Mates: 90
elgoonties says:  

TiGS said: 160 bucks to produce and 200 bucks to sell sounds like a razor thin profit margin to me.

you haven't even factored in the AV cables, controllers, complimentary game and packaging GIVEN AWAY with every unit.



Thats true. Im guessing these figures are based on US dollars as opposed to AU... interesting to see how cheap each major component costs also.
20/12/2006
Mario Kart Wii
S.A. = I <3 Antonina =
TiGS
Kudos: 29
Mates: 63
TiGS says:  
160 bucks to produce and 200 bucks to sell sounds like a razor thin profit margin to me.

you haven't even factored in the AV cables, controllers, complimentary game and packaging GIVEN AWAY with every unit.
20/12/2006
Queensland
Cavolo
Kudos: 12
Mates: 0
Cavolo says:  
More interesting would be: can I open my wii and dump more powerfull components in?

I've done it with my laptop, why not with my wii?
(cpu, gpu, ram, faster wifi, real surround sound)

Would be nice, who is unscrewing his/her Wii?
20/12/2006
Sydney
Kavin
Kudos: 1,078
Mates: 115
Kavin says:  
IM GOING TO CREATE A NEW GAMING FRANCHISE BUT I NEED 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 dollars to start it, i only have 12 dollars and 75 cents will anyone else cotribute to my fund?

P.S my company is called Kavin the king gamer
20/12/2006
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Perth, Western Australia
Ch0st3r
Kudos: 35
Mates: 3
Ch0st3r says:  
well.. the gamecube only costed 100 bucks to make when it launched and a year after only costed 20 bucks.

and guys. whent he xbox launched it costed 1000 bucks to make. sold for 5-600?

Here is a clue. For every game that is produced, nintendo get a cut. the Cost for a dvd-dl disc to be produced is next to nothing.

Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo make their money off the peripherals and the games. not the consoles.

But the p[erson who mentioned the cost for overheads and advertising etc. was correct. Once everything is factored out nintendo most likely did not make anywhere near 80million on the console alone. it would be closer to 25 million.

nintendo will make roughly 10-15 bucks off each nintendo game and probably 5-10 bucks off each 3rd party game.

20/12/2006
Melbourne, Victoria
jaye
Kudos: 2
Mates: 0
jaye says:  
agreed, cost of development would be the main factor why the price isnt that low....

nintendo has waited long enough for such a brilliant machine... i've heard others saying its too cheap

i say they got it jst right
20/12/2006
melburn, Victoria
crzyfl
Kudos: 50
Mates: 7
crzyfl says:  
Honestly the sensor bar and other accessories will cost next to nothing to manufacture. Wii Sports probably costs about quarter of a cent for the disc and not that much for development.
20/12/2006
Brisbane
DoGGpound
Kudos: 1,653
Mates: 117
DoGGpound says:  
People act like they should run like a not-for-profit..

Business is business..
19/12/2006
Brisbane
chambalam
Kudos: 2,513
Mates: 130
chambalam says:  
y go on about how much it costs. just enjoy the console. it doesnt matter because most of u have already bought it. but lets just go on about it cause we got nothing better to do
19/12/2006
Ballina, NSW. 1 hour south of queensland on coast
Rav3n
Kudos: 305
Mates: 19
Rav3n says:  
Step 1. Collect underpants.
Step 2. ...
Step 3. Profit!

Edit: ok if i worked this out right sony has alrdy lost $154,113,272 Aus on the ps3 alrdy. Since its $320 they lose per console sold and they have sold 481,395 worldwide. Ouch! I don't see software sales helping much with that number imo.
19/12/2006
melbourne, victoria
Ravi
Kudos: 214
Mates: 20
Ravi says:  

tfresh said: man that list is missing so much stuff.
as far as costing information goes, that is just all variable costs that goes into selling 1 physical wii unit.
other costs overlooked thats included in the bundle:
-controller, sensor bar, wii sports, component cables, power cables, and all their associated manufacturing costs.
- after sales support
- marketing costs
- distribution
- sales
- various miscellaneous overheads

From the above prices, there is only 37.69 USD to breathe, and thats before factoring all the costs that weren't included. So when you include those costs, there really isnt much room for too drastic a price reduction. Unless of course they want to go into the position of making a loss from the consoles in hopes of making a profit from the software.



I disagree dude, C'mon every console manufacturer has to do the same stuff. When all three are put on an equal bar Nintendo is making "profit". Regardless of marketing and support profit is still profit. What you're thinking of is more like monthly or annual turnover.
19/12/2006
Sydney
Rav3n
Kudos: 305
Mates: 19
Rav3n says:  
Sony is worse off tho Vs ninty when it comes to console price..they're what losing 250$ US on each PS3? and I don't think that factors in the whole other costs like the ones Tfresh is talking about! Sony must be losing like 300 - 350 US per PS3 ..so if they had of made the price of it to be less of a risk on there part it would have been like 1200 - 1300$ AUS.
Also is the Wholesale price of 195.99, thats including all the packaging right?
19/12/2006
melbourne, victoria
tfresh
Kudos: 116
Mates: 29
tfresh says:  
man that list is missing so much stuff.
as far as costing information goes, that is just all variable costs that goes into selling 1 physical wii unit.
other costs overlooked thats included in the bundle:
-controller, sensor bar, wii sports, component cables, power cables, and all their associated manufacturing costs.
- after sales support
- marketing costs
- distribution
- sales
- various miscellaneous overheads

From the above prices, there is only 37.69 USD to breathe, and thats before factoring all the costs that weren't included. So when you include those costs, there really isnt much room for too drastic a price reduction. Unless of course they want to go into the position of making a loss from the consoles in hopes of making a profit from the software.
19/12/2006
Resident Evil 4
melbourne
Matt_3D
Kudos: 369
Mates: 16
Matt_3D says:  
What about the controllers, cables, sensor bar and Wii Sports? They must add something to the price!?!?!
19/12/2006
Melbourne, Victoria
Rav3n
Kudos: 305
Mates: 19
Rav3n says:  

nbo said: hahahaha i wuunder how hard it is to make yourself lol

Get some Tofu and find out
19/12/2006
melbourne, victoria
nbo
Kudos: 7,784
Mates: 82
nbo says:  
hahahaha i wuunder how hard it is to make yourself lol
19/12/2006
I am a walking Screaming hell A thing of torture to behold This vivisection Splits my soul A thing of torture to behold
jusswii
Kudos: 545
Mates: 13
jusswii says:  
Well they deserve all the money they make, unlike bill gates or sony!
19/12/2006
BRISBANE BABY!!!!!, Queensland
Rav3n
Kudos: 305
Mates: 19
Rav3n says:  
Someone on the forums said that Nintendo was losing money on each Wii sold ..guess they were just a bull****ting fanboy. hehehe
19/12/2006
melbourne, victoria
meccamune
Kudos: 216
Mates: 24
meccamune says:  
now they can afford to play the ps3 jkjk

yay go nintendo
19/12/2006
Brisbane, Queensland
SkitZaY
Kudos: 343
Mates: 19
SkitZaY says:  
Agreed, good for nintendo.
19/12/2006
Sydney, NSW
Diabollus
Kudos: 4,571
Mates: 24
Diabollus says:  
All good news then. The more money they make, the more they can spend to keep us entertained.
19/12/2006
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