From my own personal perspective, I liked the Wii's controls. Pointer is absolutely one of the best things for controllers that Nintendo's ever done and the closest to mouse controls on a console that's come out. Motion controls were okay at times, too. Enjoyed Wii Sports/Resort, Wii Play, Wario Ware Smooth Moves. Was excited for Wii Music, until they demoed it. Wanted that "conduct an orchestra with a Wiimote" game that they had in their early advertising. Thankfully, Wario Ware had a mode sort of like that to scratch that itch (along with motion control Star Fox SNES, which was amazing). Still use Wii Fit/Plus/U to track weight and actually use the software sometimes, too. Obviously, I'm a traditional core gamer, as well, even if I'm finding myself increasingly not interested in many of the newer games coming out which focus on online multiplayer.
That said, I kind of think that maybe Nintendo was targeting someone like me with Labo. Someone who was open to non-traditional gaming experiences. However, I am certainly not someone who likes DIY construction kits to make the game work. Have LEGO Dimensions, and have barely gotten into it, despite it looking fun (and having Portal gameplay). Don't know that it's definitely the DIY aspect of it, but that's probably part of it. I've followed directions to make lots of real-world objects like bookshelves, tables, etc. I do it, because I have to. It isn't fun to me. Putting together Labo never seemed like fun to me. And then the game attached to it seemed half-baked from the previews. Basically, if you didn't enjoy the DIY aspect of it, it seemed like you were missing out on half the fun, since the game itself didn't seem especially compelling. Plus there's the whole "I'm supposed to stick a $300 console into that piece of cardboard?!" concern. I have some cardboard VR viewers for my phone, and I'm always concerned when I have to take it out of its protective case to put it into the viewer. Comparitively, sticking a Wiimote into some device to "enhance" gameplay doesn't bother me near as much.
To bring this back to sales, I wonder if this kind of "high risk/effort for little reward" mindset is playing into the lack of Labo sales. And maybe Nintendo expected this may not take off, too. For all the flak Nintendo gets about Mario <> games, they mostly put Mario (or one of their other characters) on an idea that they know can be good but may not get the attention it deserves, otherwise. The distinct lack of Labo Mario/Zelda Edition may indicate that Nintendo was more than a little apprehensive about how Labo would be received, and didn't want to attach their larger IPs to a potentially troubled ship.
To Aqua's more general concern about Switch expanding beyond the core market, I feel the same way. 1-2-Switch was not Wii Sports reincarnate. The biggest games are the traditional ones. Mobile hasn't gone away, so the purely casual market that went from Wii to mobile seems unlikely to come back. Switch will still do well with Nintendo games, but the support from third-parties seems likely to decline even further from where it's already at as other system's specs continue to go up. For Microsoft or Sony, that'd be a death knell, but this is Nintendo. Further reduced third-party support is problematic for long-term viability of the platform, but since the cost should be able to go down (unlike with Wii U and its GamePad) and Nintendo will still put its own games on the system, Switch should still do well enough, long-term. It just may not be the near PS4 level that it's at now.
