Xbox One unit sales will make money at launch, says Microsoft

Microsoft is planning to break even, or make a profit, on sales of its Xbox One from launch, something the company did not manage with either the launch of the original Xbox or Xbox 360.

Speaking at the Citi Global Technology Conference earlier this week, as reported by GamesIndustry, Xbox chief marketing officer Yusuf Mehdi said that "we're looking to break even or low margin at worst" on Xbox One. Games companies often sell consoles at a loss in order to quickly establish an installed base of users, in the belief that profits will eventually be reaped by sales of games or paid online services.

"As we can cost-reduce our box as we've done with 360, we'll continue to price reduce and get even more competitive with our offering," he said. "You've seen us over the years constantly be focused on profitability and improving year over year. If you look at 360 that platform lasted for seven to eight years and it's going to go for another three years. It's incredibly profitable now in the tail."