I don't think this view comes from a poor understanding of Nintendo's success. Remember when the Wii came out and people thought the motion controls sucked and games which heavily used them didn't sell well? What about Switch games which make heavy use of motion controls (e.g. Super Mario Odyssey)? Turns out those sell well today because Nintendo invested yesterday in their motion-reading capabilities: hardware.
Certainly they see a lot of success due to choices around branding and going the Disney route of protecting their rights to Mickey Mouse^W^W Mario at all costs but they also see a lot of success from hardware innovations they've made in gaming.
