Free Wiimote Sleeves To Cost Nintendo $17.2 Million

Remember that story that we ran recently about the Wiimote sleeves that Nintendo is going to be handing out to Wii owners? You'll never guess how much money Nintendo is spending on those.

Nintendo has over 10 million Wii consoles installed worldwide, and each owner is eligible for up to four sleeves for their Wiimotes. Their total cost to give these away is right around $17.2 million. That's a lot of money for something that they really didn't have to do.

In addition to giving out these free sleeves to current owners4, all Wii consoles and Wiimotes will be shipping with them. I'm sure that Nintendo isn't exactly hurting for cash these days, considering how well both the Wii and DS are selling worldwide.

Wii Remote Jackets Program Costing Nintendo $17.2M [via dailytech]