Selling One Game Makes the Wii U Profitable

Nintendo’s supposed to be making a loss with each console sold, right? That’s what was initially claimed. That is the case, but the loss is minimal: A single game sold for the Wii U turns that loss into a profit.

Reggie Fils-Aime spoke with Mercury News, revealing that Nintendo wasn’t losing anything at all.

“The business model doesn’t change dramatically,” said Reggie, “in that as soon as we get the consumer to buy one piece of software, then that entire transaction becomes profit positive.”

The Wii U is the first Nintendo console to be manufactured and shipped at a loss, but it turns out that loss is minimal. This is especially the case with the current attach rate, with GameStop reporting that there are 2.4 Wii U games sold for each console. This is a bit below their prediction of an attach rate of 4, but it’s still a positive number for Nintendo.