There's a long-standing myth that third-party sales are central to a system's survival, but this simply is not true. The myth originated largely from when Sony entered the market, and persists largely because Sony was the most successful console maker during the last decade. But if you look back to before the PlayStation, you'll discover that third parties were never significant in years prior to Sony's console debut. The NES million sellers list consists almost entirely of Nintendo-made games, and you'd be hard-pressed to find any third-party game makers who sold more than 2 million copies of a game on the system. The situation is similar, but not as pronounced, with the Super Nintendo.
The fact of the matter is that most consumers don't give a flying fig about who makes a game as long as it fits their interests. The game could come from Nintendo, Activision, Electronic Arts, Rockstar, or even People Can Fly, and they still wouldn't care as long as the game gave them what they were looking for. Strong first-party support is no more a handicap for Nintendo than strong third-party support is the 360's saving grace. The software itself, not who makes it, is what drives a system (be it into the stratosphere or into the ground).
Sky Render - Sanity is for the weak.
