I can speak of past systems in that, while going thru school, I was the store manager at an Electronics Boutique (ebgames/gamestop). I quit shortly after the PS2 was lowered in price the first time. What I was told was that no matter how low they actually sell the units for, they are always selling the units at a loss. Retailers buy the systems from Sony/Nintendo etc for the same price they sell them for. As a matter of fact, at the time I worked there, if you purchased a game system with no games and used an American Express card, the store would actually LOSE money on the sale, because of the cost of using AMEX and no profit on the systems. With the new 399 pricepointed 40 gig system, I would assume that sony is still taking a 150-200 dollar hit per system. Of course, we all know what happens when you assume.
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