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Sony in particular does this. For the first X years of its life, Playstation is sold as a loss. They generate revenue through game sales and then a decade late

Sony in particular does this. For the first X years of its life, Playstation is sold as a loss. They generate revenue through game sales and then a decade later as hardware components become cheaper and scale increases they start to make money on the consoles as well. If they can't generate revenue through game sales the entire console model would be upended and hardware prices would rapidly increase. No company can take the risk to lose billions without a guarantee of future revenue.

criddell 4y ago
> No company can take the risk to lose billions without a guarantee of future revenue. Apparently the Nintendo Switch was never sold at a loss. Does it really matter though? They shouldn't be allowed to abuse consumers for the sake of their business model. If it were true that they were selling consoles for an expected loss, that would act as a barrier to new competitors entering the market. Should companies like John Deere be able to prevent third-parties from doing maintenance on farm equipment because John Deere's business model relies on that revenue stream?