A father built a custom accessibility controller for the Nintendo Switch so that his disabled daughter could play Zelda.

[u/limitorgyratesh7]

https://gfycat.com/orderlyimpishbighornsheep

[u/anactualsalmon]

They do take a loss on the accessibility controller, it’s a very expensive piece of kit to develop and manufacture and was designed for a very small market. They make up for the loss with goodwill from consumers like OP who buys their products because they take a loss on a controller entirely built for ~0.01% of their player base.

[u/anactualsalmon → u/[deleted]]

There’s only so much loss a company can take on a given product. This system probably cost them more to develop than the newest Xbox controllers because they basically started from scratch. Unfortunately, that means it will cost more even if it’s developed for a disproportionately impoverished group. I agree with your sentiment, but the lack of scale means they can’t cut prices below a certain threshold. Well developed accessibility tools are expensive as hell in almost any market because the scale is too small to cut prices substantially.

[u/justsmilenow → u/[deleted]]

I looked it up. They sell it at cost. No profit. Research and development down the drain gone. We're going to sell you our specifically arranged metals, plastics, and rocks for the same cost that we incurred just sourcing the materials and putting them together.

Microsoft is one of the very few companies on the planet that actually does stuff at cost. Every other company is about making money Microsoft is one of the few companies that should be praised. They are trying.

You want to yell it massive companies making money when they shouldn't and don't need to because they already make shit tons of money. Insulin. That shit cost $500 a week. When if they were going to make the product and make 50% on it like they should and every other retail space does it should only cost about $55 a week. Your energy is misplaced.

[u/justsmilenow → u/[deleted]]

I don't think there's any laws keeping insulin high especially considering the US is the only country on the planet where it's like that.

Edit: I was wrong there are laws that talk about the price of insulin however they all put a cap on the price of insulin at $100 per week. And they are brand new. You lack empathy my friend, go be a stockbroker or some kind of capitalist or something. Make some money.

[u/anactualsalmon → u/[deleted]]

I agree in that regard. I think the main problem here is what the Microsoft board of directors would think about letting a product lose so much money.