Xbox 360 Controller Costs $11 to Make
According to the EETimes, the $50 Xbox 360 controller costs approximately $11 to make. Actually, they don’t just tell you, no. David Carey, the president of Portelligent actually breaks the controller down into all of its many pieces and outlines what they are and what they do.
And after three pages of words like “capacitor” and “modular radio subsystem”, Mr. Carey concludes that:
Bill-of-material estimates for the wireless controller come in at around $11, or 22 percent of the retail price for the product–a far cry from the negative margin of the console itself. While Call of Duty and Madden NFL 2006 may be examples of the obvious profit play, the add-ons in the hardware arena certainly help in the overall equation.
Um, yeah, I’d say so. But then, if it’s true that the Xbox costs about $700 to make, then Microsoft has to even the bill somewhow.
Still, from $11 to $50? Ouch.
(source)
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13 opinions for Xbox 360 Controller Costs $11 to Make
chartreuse
Feb 22, 2006 at 4:43 am
So this is why Bill Gates is the richest guy in the world…
mark
Feb 22, 2006 at 7:03 am
Stuff like this is always sold 3-fold: manufacturing cost, company profit, store profit. But yeah, that’s a huge spike!
Ingrid
Feb 22, 2006 at 11:17 pm
Chartreuse: lol indeed. Btw, thanks for stopping by. I’m an avid reader of your blog :)
Mark: Yeah, I’m certainly not surprised. But still. Ouch. :)
chartreuse
Feb 23, 2006 at 2:30 am
You get to write about some cool, important, stuff. I dig the site.
I don’t think most people understand how the advent of video games fundementally changed society. I’m not talking about the effects of videogame violence or stupid noise like that. I really feel that people who have grown up playing videogames there whole lives THINK different.
I would go into detail on this but it has very little to do with the costs of an xbox controller. And like you said, I have a blog.
I hope being “an avid reader” means you like it. :)
Questworld
Feb 24, 2006 at 9:15 pm
I think this simplifies the manufacturing costs too much. I’m not sure it other aspects were considered but there’s still worker salaries, factory overhead (i.e. electricity, rent or factory development, etc.), cost of machines, maintenance, etc. They may not even be cranking production at high speed or around the clock. Obviously the more they make the bigger the field they can distribute the cost of overhead, but if they don’t it makes the product more expensive to produce.
Jim
May 14, 2007 at 3:52 pm
Yep big profit for a controller, that is crazy.
Xbox 360 Mods
Aug 30, 2007 at 7:36 am
That’s a huge profit margin! But it’s Microsoft, what you expected from company like that? :(
free xbox 360
Jan 17, 2008 at 7:32 pm
I agree that they have to even up the bill since they lose money selling xbox. But still, $39 extra for a mere controller?
Nathan
Jan 20, 2008 at 7:11 am
The have to make up for the costs somehow, it only makes sense. Assuming that it is true that they lose so much on the console itself.
Chris
Jan 20, 2008 at 7:13 am
Your first controller is included, so if you need more, why shouldnt they charge alot more so that they can even out the balance sheet.
Nate
Jan 20, 2008 at 7:14 am
Wow, that is a nice profit. You can bet they sell a ton of them too. I wonder what a wired one costs.
Michael
Mar 16, 2008 at 9:49 am
That’s crazy considering how much these controllers are selling for.
Michael
May 7, 2008 at 1:14 pm
Very good article. Thanks for the good information.
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