Comment by Ferret7446

I dislike Nintendo but I have to defend them a little.

Nintendo makes toys. They started as a toy company and they still are a toy company; they make video game "toys", it's why their consoles are underpowered, it's why they have a huge first party dominance, and it's why they never "port" their games to other consoles. You buy their "toys and toy accessories". You aren't buying "games that I wish I could play on PC/with mods/etc".

A lot of their shitty practices/"decline" is because gamers expect them to be a video game company, but they're not; they're a toy company. And to be fair, they still consistently make great "toys" (games that are great for kids or more casual players, even though they are flawed and lacking for game enthusiasts).

Comparing them to Disney is particularly apt, wrt lifestyle brand. They're both targeted toward kids and families, although there are a minority of adults that seem to have latched on particularly hard (Freud would have a field day).