Wait, why are you putting so much emphasis on Japan? As well as the Switch is selling there, it still represents less than 25% of Switch sales. Still A Nintendo/handheld console getting "95%" of Japanese games is the status quo.  It was the same for the DS, the same for the Vita, the same for the PSP, and so on. It would be surprising if the Switch didn't get the vast majority of Japanese games on its platform. Why should anyone care when considering overall sales? What difference does that make? What percentage of those Japanese games are released outside of Japan? How many of them sell more than 500K copies outside of Japan? Look how many Japanese games were released on the Vita in 2018 if you need to put in perspective how little that matters for overall platform sales. For example, why should  a prospective buyer care at all if the next game from the makers of "Tokyo Xanadu" or the hundreds of other developers like them doesn't come to a Playstation or Xbox next time around? How many people is that actually going to sway into buying a Switch? If the answer to that isn't "tens of millions of people" then it really doesn't matter.

At the end of the day, It doesn't matter how many third party exclusives the Switch has, it matters how many third party exclusives that pushes a prospective buyer into buying one. Indies and Japanese games don't exactly have a great track record of leading to world-wide sales. If they did, the Vita would have been FAR more successful than it was. At the end of the day, the Switch is going to get less and less third party system sellers after Sony and MS release new consoles, and that's all that really matters.

Your argument kind of hits a wall because you're going about third party titles that sell the platform when no Nintendo platform really relies on third party to sell itself and what's ironic is the third parties that do have some semblance of an impact are often the Japanese games as they tend to be the only games that mirror the appeal of what the first party games have which actually backs his point on eastern developers being significant.

Out of all the Switch games only one third party game has actually had an impact on sales and that was Octopath all the other system sellers have been first party titles and they've had no problem selling the platform even when games like RDR2, GOW, Spiderman etc... have come out the NS even in total  sales outsold the PS4 in NA for 2018 according to NPD highlighting the reality of the situation is what you're trying to say is a factor really has no bearing on the Switch.

If your argument is that third party titles don't really matter in the grand scheme of things for Nintendo platforms then why are we talking about it? Also, isn't it ironic that you claim that Japanese games that have an impact are ones that mirrors the appeal of first party games, and then mention Octopath Traveller, which isn't like any major first party Nintendo game that Nintendo has made in years. You're contradicting yourself.

Great, the Switch outsold a console in the 5th year of its life that experienced declining sales in the US. So what? That was pretty much expected universally. I'd be concerned if it didn't.

If your argument is that third party titles don't really matter in the grand scheme of things for Nintendo platforms then why are we talking about it? Also, isn't it ironic that you claim that Japanese games that have an impact are ones that mirrors the appeal of first party games, and then mention Octopath Traveller, which isn't like any major first party Nintendo game that Nintendo has made in years. You're contradicting yourself.

Great, the Switch outsold a console in the 5th year of its life that experienced declining sales in the US. So what? That was pretty much expected universally. I'd be concerned if it didn't.

Actually, not only that, but it basically tied with PS4's peak year in the US as well. Isn't that impressive?

Oh & you want a number? Here's one for you: 12 million Switch sold by December 31, 2017.
Here's another: 35 million Switch sold by December 31, 2018.
Here's one more: 60 million Switch sold by December 31, 2019.
And one more for the road: 240 million LIFETIME Switch sales.

Nope no contradiction as Octopath is very much in line with rpgs that Nintendo would put traditional but with a certain quirk to it similar to how Paper Mario and the M&L games have quirks that put put a spin on the traditional JRPG approach not to mention Nintendo has made JRPG type games so the appeal is already among the userbase.

You're the one saying only exclusives that have sales impact matter when for Nintendo that's not been the case for well over a decade now which is what I responded to, don't try that side step either because the point is very clear you're talking about games that can't be ported being a problem when we've just had a year with some notable games that weren't ported and Switch did just fine and outperformed the platform with those games which under the stance you're arguing shouldn't happen.

Actually, not only that, but it basically tied with PS4's peak year in the US as well. Isn't that impressive?

...

I never said exclusives that have a sales impact matter (even though they do), I said third party games that have a sales impact matter. If third party games that didn't have a sales impact mattered, the Vita would have sold like gangbusters. If Nintendo first party games alone mattered, the Wii U would have sold like gangbusters. You're oversimplifying the issue. When people talk about "third party support" they don't mean hundreds of indies are Japan-exclusive Japanese-made games that almost all will sell, less than 500K copies that your average owner of that platform has never even heard of. You're contorting "third party support" to emphasize the little (and frankly insignifcant) third party support Nintendo has, and pretending that's just fine.

Look. Nintendo has already released Mario, New Mario, Zelda, Mario Kart, Donkey Kong, Splatoon, Pokemon, Mario party, Mario Tennis, Bayonetta, Smash, Krby, among others. They've already put out most of the popular Wii U titles on the Switch. What's left exactly? Metroid (which believe it or not, has never been a system seller, or popular by Nitnendo game standards), another Pokemon game, Animal crossing and then what? HDer remakes of HD Remakes? Maybe dig out Star Fox? It's not like there's too much left in easy Wii U ports to push through to fill in the gaps, and Nintendo frankly cannot keep up the pace of releasing games like they have been.  I think that's why people are expecting  Mario Odyssey 2 or Zelda 2 will drop in the next couple years since Nintendo's hands are tied and those would be easier and quicker titles to make than building new games from scratch. Now, if only there were other studios that made system sellers on Nintendo's consoles, then maybe Nintendo wouldn't have to do it all themselves and rush the bulk of their catalog out in the first two years of their new console's life. Maybe then they wouldn't have to have a Direct to announce a bunch of indie games that no one has ever heard of ior is really that interested in, and if they have or are, won't be talking about a year after they're released.