Dr. Serkan Toto shared a stunning observation about Nintendo’s position in the Japanese video game industry.

In an interview with Christopher Dring for the Game Business, Dr. Toto said this:

I would say that if Nintendo produced another flop like the Wii U, and if the Switch wasn’t the super hit it turned out to be, I think the Japanese console game market would have been completely eliminated.

…I think that even more people would have turned to smartphones and maybe even the PC.

Dr. Toto also observed that Nintendo has dominated the Japanese console market since 2017. In his words:

I think Nintendo not only completely dominates the console gaming segment here in Japan with 70%, I think, is the market share for all gaming content, but they also saved it back around 10 years ago now.

This may seem confusing to gamers, particularly PlayStation fans. But Sony quiet quit their presence in Japan, with the newly reorganized SIE moving from Japan to California in 2016 and Japan Studio being shrunk down to Team Asobi.

For Nintendo, the commanding success of the Switch out the gate veiled how much the company was on the ropes.