A lot of it is luck. Wii or Switch could've failed, but they didn't. I mean any Nintendo platform could fail but those two were some big risks that paid off. Shoot, even Switch 2 has been a risk with mostly being an iterative successor. But risk was going to happen no matter what. Have Switch 2 iterative and you take risks, make it something radically different that might not even be Switch 2 and it's also a risk.
Handheld domination is a big part of it. From Game Boy onward, Nintendo has rarely been in any danger of failing in the handheld space or even being overtaken. Nintendo course corrected quite quickly when 3DS was slipping after launch. They gambled by selling it at a loss for a time and it paid off massively. 3DS helped keep Nintendo afloat, but with the failure of Wii U they needed to get into mobile and also spend a lot of time on the next system.
And it's the IPs as well. Look at all the Mario and Pokémon games. Core titles, tons of spinoffs, they print money.
Lower costs help too. For a lot of Nintendo's history (in both the handheld space and even recently in the home console space) they spend less on their games than most.
Lifetime Sales Predictions
Switch: 161 million (was 73 million, then 96 million, then 113 million, then 125 million, then 144 million, then 151 million, then 156 million)
PS5: 122 million (was 105 million, then 115 million) Xbox Series X/S: 38 million (was 60 million, then 67 million, then 57 million. then 48 million. then 40 million)
Switch 2: 120 million (was 116 million)
PS4: 120 mil (was 100 then 130 million, then 122 million) Xbox One: 51 mil (was 50 then 55 mil)
3DS: 75.5 mil (was 73, then 77 million)
"Let go your earthly tether, enter the void, empty and become wind." - Guru Laghima
