[wernercd]

No one is asking for? Two problems with that...

One... no one knows what they don't have until you show them or you create it. The Wii Remote is a key point. Wildly popular yet would have been dismissed as "no one asked for it".

Two... The Switch is what everyone is asking for: Portability. Phones, tablets, etc. People want to do stuff on the go.

You can blame a "rabid fanbase"... but it would't be such a large fanbase or such a rabid fanbase if they weren't being given what they wanted - whether or not its asked for.

[overcast]

How wildly popular is it now? After the hysteria died down, people realized they don't want to be flailing their arms around while playing games. They just want a normal controller, which is why it's worked exceptionally well, and iterated upon for the last 35+ years. Nintendo keeps creating these new human interfaces, that get abandoned by the time the next console rolls around. I'm all for innovation, but when it comes to input devices, standards like the gamepad/mouse/keyboard are here to stay. Because they work exceptionally well.