I agrre that Nintendo dont need to buy any other devs.  Their 1st party output is so good that they are able to get away with simply having their own IPs on their device. 

Sony is a little more vulnerable as the ultra biggest games on their console are 3rd person (Fortnite,  COD etc). But I would argue that they have reached a point where significant numbers of gamers are buying their consoles just to play 1st party games. However they obviously do feel vulnerable as they have been on a purchasing spree and are rumoured to be in discussions with SE.

I certainly prefer the approach of building new studios and hiring people than buying publishers and devs.

I have no doubt about it. I was just stating that Nintendo could have made a more powerful device, not that they needed it or would even sell more or profit more.

If the console was more powerful it would have had a shorter battery life. I feel like that could have been a deal breaker for some. The OG 2017 Switch already had a worse battery life than the 3DS.

Nintendo doesn't have to do shit, they can sell the Switch with their own games + indie titles have created a secondary software outlet, beyond that, Microsoft actually supports the Switch fairly well. Call of Duty might actually be more likely on the Switch now.

Sony should be worried because 3rd parties are their bread and butter and keeping 3rd party content under exclusivity deals has been their go to play for decades, now someone is returning the favor hardcore and they don't like it.

Of the two, I think Sony needs to more than Nintendo. Sony's relationship with third parties has been to buy exclusive third party games and then supplement their games with their own internal studios. Microsoft is breaking that buy just buying the cow rather than the milk. Sony and Microsoft are also in direct competition as they are seen as substitutes. This is also why Sony is setting aside a lot of money for acquisitions. If the Microsoft/Activision deal is approved by regulators (which I think it will be), Sony will become more aggressive. Nintendo, for now, is going to be more defensive and get the companies they can't afford to lose or ones that approach them about selling. 

I don't see Nintendo getting big into acquisitions unless Sony gets involved. Nintendo rarely cares about Microsoft but they really care about Sony does. For instance, Nintendo killed the Gameboy line and started the DS when Sony entered the market. Keep in mind the GBA was only on the market for 4 years and sold 80 million units. It was a massive risk. Nintendo keeps up these gimmicks until Sony left. If Sony buys up a major third party, then Nintendo will go from "People who don't process Nintendo DNA in our group would not be a plus to the company" to "Nintendo has always saw opportunities to bring in new talent and ideas into the company to expand the Nintendo DNA". If you want to see if Nintendo will get into the acquisition game, just watch Sony. 

Sony and Nintendo should merge, and then acquire Square, Capcom, and Bandai Namco.

On a more serious note, it is inevitable that Sony will acquire a publisher, it would be negligent if they don't.

The fact they're adding 300M+ to their first party development costs in FY22 points to massive expansion. It is similar verbiage that alluded to the acquisition of Bungie. Assuming an average salary of 100K per developer, that would be nearly 3000 employees added onto SIE, leaving room for smaller acquisitions like Haven and potentially Deviation.

So Saints Row looking pretty bad. Once again, Embracer Group has fail to show us that their acquisitions are good for them.

Could you source for that by any chance?

Yeah I think so too. However, the main reason I think Nintendo was particularly looking at Sony was because they wanted to secure their homeland first, and Sony was the biggest competitor. Btw the mindset is already "Nintendo has always saw opportunities to bring in new talent and ideas into the company to expand the Nintendo DNA" but not from acquisitions, rather from hiring new/young devs. Miyamoto stated in the shareholder meeting and interviews multiple times that they hire younger people and ingrain them with Nintendo DNA for the future of Nintendo whenever he was questioned about what happens after he retires.