@koaftder
Marketing costs are separate and effect every company's bottom line. Profits from one product can be subsidized to promote a less profitable one so it's not something calculated simply and don't figure directly into manufacturing costs(which can be easily calculated). It's simply manufacturing costs we are arguing.
Also an MSRP is not always ~ twice the actual costs. It varies across different industries. Infact, because they expect to sell software and a memory card and maybe a controller with every console sold, I would say that the GC's MSRP is only 10-20% higher than the actual cost to manufacture.
Now from a software point of view, it costs total about $2 to burn the disc and create the packaging per unit assuming for example 100,000 units. Now development costs for the average GC/PSP/PS2 title are ~$800,000 per title (
http://www.gamerankings.com/itemrankings/launchnews.asp?newsid=148719 ). So if they make 100,000 copies and sell them all, then it only cost them $10 a title. But if it sells one million copies, then the costs are only $2.80 per title.
After about 400,000 copies are sold and a timeline is met, a game goes "Player's Choice" and sells for 20-30 bucks. They are still making a good profit. I would say the MSRP of $50 means the store paid probably half that, maybe a bit more. Either way, there is profit to be made on software.
As far as 3rd party software goes, platform holders probably make about $5 a title per copy sold.
Now everybody wants to talk about the real profits being in software...well if Nintendo only makes $5 per copy, per title on 3rd party software and they only release ~4 first party console games a year with a profit of ~$17 you can begin to see how selling all those gamecubes in April-June of 2004 made them double their profits over the same quarter of the previous year. Take into account that rarely do games sell over 400,000 copies on the GC (except 1st party games)...you begin to see why making a profit on hardware is also part of their big picture.
Now if everybody who submitted a comment to this thread just boned up on their c/c++ we could port mono over to AROS and expand the software library for the platform to some insaine level.
Yes, exactly why I started the "potential PPC Amiga REAL CHEAP" thread. To move the platform forward as a whole. Instead of support, my idea was picked about for trolling's sake. If you read through the whole thing, I learn some things along the way but also learn who the trolls were and who actually had "constructive" critisism. Alot of the original troll arguments against it, I dissipated much later on in the thread as the Gamecube modder/homebrew developer community made some break-thrus and an excellent MOD chip (
www.qoobchip.com) was released...and is now installed in my Rev C. Gamecube (vs. my much more valuable Rev A.).
Quite a read for anyone here who wonders where the hostility toward adolescent and Waccoon comes from. Read it all and make up your own mind.
