When people say that Nintendo can't/won't/shouldn't try striving to make their consoles to be closer to their competition (direct, indirect, or otherwise) on even the fundamental levels (including but not limited to base-level hardware/power parity, third-party support, better online infrastructure, etc.), but also say that Nintendo won't/shouldn't ever exit the hardware business / go third-party, they're trying to have their cake and eat it.
And coming off the Wii U and that entire sorry saga of that platform, I honestly don't have much optimistic expectations for the Switch. Kinda surprised at those who are confident it will be a surefire hit, to be honest.
As to Nintendo and success:
I don't think there is only one model of success in this industry. Game Boy proved this. PlayStation proved this. DS proved this. Wii proved this. Yes, Wii U was a failure. Yes, mobile is eating into the room for dedicated handhelds. And yes, the Switch could also fail. It is quite the leap from that to "there is only one sort of gaming console that can exist." Perhaps Nintendo can find it, perhaps they can not. We'll see.
As to shouldn't go 3rd Party:
As to 3rd Party, that is not beneficial to Nintendo
at all. That's asking them to take on higher budgets for lower money per sale and no licensing fee or hardware income. For what? Better sales? Their games already sell well, and the idea that they'd sell so much more on other consoles so as to make up for the increased cost of putting them out is ridiculous.
It is also not good for anyone who cares about the wider Nintendo catalog or the third party software that has found its place on their systems. If you want to see, say, Metroid again, Nintendo needs to be in a place where it feels it has the room and the need to press its mindshare in that way again. Getting rid of catalog considerations, making games riskier per above, etc. is not the way to go about that.
It is only good for people who feel compelled to buy Nintendo hardware because they want (and only want) something among 2D Mario, Mario Kart, Smash Brothers, Pokemon, Animal Crossing, 3D Mario, and Zelda.
As to wouldn't go 3rd party:
They'll avoid it if they can, but that is not to say it'll never happen. Could quite well be 3rd party mobile developer, rather than 3rd party console developer, though.
An update on my negativity in gaming comment. I am dealing a lot better with it by avoiding overtly negative topics and sticking with threads that feel more middle of the road and conversational. If this become caustic, I stop lurking that thread immediately.
So all in all, I am realizing I can just keep myself in a positive and informed zone where valid and rational criticism can be taken in but hyperbole can just be dropped immediately.
I was part of that conversation; good to hear!
