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But you pay that 40 dollars at once, and it's on the price tag of the SteamBox you would buy (if they go for a Windows box). So, 40 dollars on a console price is actually a lot of money, since most console hardware is sold at 300-400 dollars point.

The xbox360 core launched at $300. Assuming prices of the next generation are fairly inline with last generation, then yeah that's a ton. I have no idea what the cost to Microsoft on those units where, but I remember here they were either sold at a lose or with almost no profit. 13% on the BOM is more than significant especially when there is a viable alternative.

But if you're competing with a $500 PS4, you're going to have problems. Even when you throw in price savings with scaling and a colossal subsidy, that's the retail equivalent of building a PC which competes with the next-gen consoles for $800 or so. So a marginal $40 is a lot of money in that.