Failure is a relative term... some say Gamecube was a failure...but was it? It was no PS2, got outsold by Xbox by a few million, but Nintendo was only raking in cash. That's how I think Switch will play out. Nintendo didn't start getting into "they're doomed" territory until they started selling consoles at a loss or just didn't have any decent games out.
I'm not saying Switch doesn't need 3rd party support, I'm saying the 3rd party support it needs has to be very selective and possible. So, mostly Japanese 3rd parties will be able to support Switch no problem. But anybody expecting the Switch to be able to run Red Dead 2, or ME:A, etc. on such a small form factor is quite frankly insane. I mean, the games could theoretically run however there'd be huge drawbacks.
The difference for Switch is that it's a totally new product, it can't go down in price like PS4 and Xbox One, it's new tech. It is fully portable, something the PS4 and Xbox One can't say. That, itself, is a huge selling point. And last but not least...it will have POKEMON. It's already guaranteed that it'll outsell Wii U while eventually turning a profit on hardware and software at the same point in time.
Switch also benefits from a shared library. I know we don't see it now, but Switch, even without huge AAA western support, will have a ton of content. With Virtual console, and all of Nintendo's teams working on one device to produce Fire Emblem, Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong, Metroid, Pikmin, Kirby, Smash, Mario Kart, etc., along with help from Japanese 3rd parties whose games don't need power to be developed well, i.e. Sega, Level 5, Tokyo RPG Factory, Capcom, Square Enix, etc. Switch will be a well supported device. I think we're jumping to conclusions too early on what is essentially a "soft launch".