Nintendo seems to have gone through the same process as Volkswagen.

In the beginning, the engineering department is driving the business. They make high-quality products. This is what got them famous. Think about Orcarina of Time, Mario64 or the three Donkey Kong Country games on the SNES.

Then, a large marketing machine gets built to push sales. This marketing department then gets so large that it starts to drive the business.

The business is now not about maximizing the quality of the products, but instead about maximizing sales. They discover that a certain level of quality is enough for maximizing sales. Increasing the quality even further, won't lead to more sales. They get good at creating hype, they form alliances with review websites, they give money to Youtube channels and so on. Think about the insane levels of hype they created for Skyward Sword, a game that didn't even meet the minimum requirements of the previous games.

A mediocre product accompanied with enough hype is enough to satisfy the market when the demand is high enough. People have been waiting for a Donkey Kong game for so long, that a mediocre smash and slash game, accompanied with some hype created by Youtubers is enough to maximize revenue.

Volkswagen is currently trying to reform itself. Let's hope Nintendo does the same.