at the current moment, nintendo is not interested in game dev and instead it's becoming a secondary thing while the products derivated from it become the main source of income from them
it's *exactly* what game freak did, where the new games, since the 3ds, serve as a catalog for new pokemon.
players get attached to them through playing and regardless of the game quality ( as it already has fan loyalty and brand recognition ), the sales are guaranteed.
with super nintendo world about to open, it's no wonder they're playing as safe as possible.
it's a little too safe though and it's becoming damaging to them.
the nintendo directs are made solely for investors now, to show that nintendo does in fact still maintain the public interest and has new projects to offer.
iwata was the last barrier preventing the current state of nintendo, it will be a long time before we get the nice nintendo we grow up with... if ever.
things have soured up inside nintendo too, iwata understood what it meant to be a game dev and made nintendo a really pleasant work place, different from the usual japanese business model.
one of the worst things about it is how they drip games on the switch.
there's nothing for months and then suddenly there's a port of an old game.
it always sells well, but the results have been increasingly worse, look at link's awakening for instance
they gave it to grezzo to handle it, grezzo couldn't get the tilt right from albtw so they tilted the camera instead, the hud looks like a unity game alpha and the game somehow lags massively from time to time
and it's either that or they release a cheap budget game ( akin to the playstation simple series ), but since there's no other nintendo release it becomes a big deal because people are so desperate for a game with the nintendo polish and feel.
clubhouse games is hot garbage, most games can't even be played locally unless you buy more switches, and this is a game meant to be played with friends or family, either in person or online, so it comes off as scammy as hell.
and that's not even touching on the subject of how shoddy the switch itself is, nintendo made controllers designed to intentionally under certain situations, never offered a solution and raised the price of replacements through the roof.
not only that, but games like clubhouse games don't allow you to use anything but joycons, so if you bought an 8bitdo or something to replace a drifting joycon, tough luck. and it makes the games in it hell too.
switch plus doesn't seem to address those issues, and introduces new ones, so it's complicated.
at least we'll see more games, since they're holding back so many games to blow up its announcement.
I keep thinking of those bastards on twitter that were crying for nintendo to halt production of anything 3ds because they assumed that would mean more games on the switch...