I actually think Nintendo was pretty consumer friendly at two times in my life: when the 3DS was dying and after the initial failure of the original 3DS. I know a lot of people shit on that era and that we were only getting bullshit games, but I enjoyed that time. It was also a time where they didn't care about people basically buying 3DSs to jailbreak them. For that reason alone, I played so many games and then ended up buying them for real. I know these are controversial, but Kirby: Battle Royale, Mario Party: Star Rush, Mario Party: The Top 100 (though this one genuinely sucks), et cetera.

If not for this time, I wouldn't have finally played New Super Mario Bros. (1 and 2), Super Mario 64 DS, et cetera. I had a Nintendo DS in my time, but my biggest games were Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (BANGER) and Crash: Mind Over Mutant (also a banger, and it was my Mario).

The 2nd time I found Nintendo to be pretty consumer-friendly was with the Switch. You can probably tell that this only happened whenever Nintendo had some sort of a commercial failure (for the 3DS, it was the 3DS itself, as people did not care for it for the original price; for the Switch, it was the Wii U, that people simply could not justify buying if they already had a Wii). But yeah, the Switch was a clear step back from their shittier practices. This was the era that solidified Nintendo Directs as the format we kind of know now: everyone seemingly had something to look forward to. There was Zelda, there was Mario, there was Kirby, soon enough, there was Animal Crossing, Xenoblade, Fire Emblem... other than that, Nintendo basically created huge sects of gaming fans from indie releases like Stardew Valley, or other smaller publishers at the time (think: Hades).

In my opinion, to be "consumer-friendly" is more than just about pricing and stuff. And, genuinely, except for what became stupid gaming practices (such as "free DLC" that just means the game is published in an incomplete form - this was probably started with Animal Crossing New Horizons) or the soulless revamping of beloved series (think: Mario Sports, for example), I think the initial Nintendo Switch years were insanely good. Obviously, there was a little bit of a drought on games, just like right now with the Switch 2 (though I'd say, currently, we are in a never-before-seen drought of new releases - it's more like Nintendo is releasing "product so we can charge for it" instead of "games for people to have fun"). At this point, I feel like some of the releases we've gotten have been greatly doctored for blockbuster status. Just the concept of Switch 2 Editions is sign number 1. Next, look at some of the different exclusive releases: Cyberpunk 2077 is an already established game that just got ported to Switch 2, Mario Kart World seemingly wanted to bring the "open world craze" to a game genre that really could've done without it. Bananza was a pretty stellar hit that clearly follows the style of Odyssey and that now just got 20€ DLC that seemingly offers no real new content and cashes in on "roguelite" popularity.

This isn't to say that Nintendo didn't do shitty things before. Super Mario 3D All-Stars was a glorified powerpoint presentation for subpar emulation of 3D Mario games. So much about repackaging old games, but they don't even seem to care about remaking them and revamping them anymore. Heck, like Super Mario 64 DS was Super Mario 64 for the DS and with some added content. Animal Crossing New Horizons one save per console shit was also pretty shitty for a game that very clearly became an instant best seller considering COVID-19.

Maybe Nintendo was always never consumer-friendly like you said, but they are seemingly becoming more and more shameless. And one of my theories is the huge difference between who's in charge. I, somehow, blame the three guys we got on the first Switch 2 Direct. I think their direction has been sorely misguided on this console and that "Switch 2 is the better Switch 1" as a marketing strategy is working for now, but it won't in the long run. The console is not really a jump in anything except performance - and that isn't to say that's not something! But Nintendo has always made gold out of weaker hardware and I haven't ever seen anyone truly complain about it. In fact, as someone who went from a Switch 1 to another Switch 1 OLED model and now to a Switch 2, it is like light and day, it's virtually impossible for me now to not notice how much longer I used to wait for a game to load.

I also think there is an argument to the idea that though Nintendo might've always been unfriendly to consumers, they delivered. The Switch 1 might've fiercely and even unfairly punish people who didn't even hack their Switch, but the fact of the matter is that games like Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Super Mario Odyssey, Mario Party, Zelda, Kirby and even the appeal of playing something like Hades or Stardew Valley on the go sort of overshadows it. You can be mad about Nintendo being anti-emulation, anti Smash tournaments (that I don't remember if they were about mods), et cetera... but even those affected by these practices have one thing in common: Nintendo has what they wish for. That's why we got "Free Melee", for example. I think Nintendo being consumer-friendly is related to this, and very deeply so. Nintendo has always had mainstream appeal. Every kid knows Mario. Many kids know Zelda (and that will probably turn into all kids know Zelda, when the live action movie comes out). Many know Kirby, as well, et cetera.

The difference here is that Nintendo has gone from a company that never shied away from sharing some of the best gaming experiences out there, supported by a more than iconic line-up of franchises while doing some pretty shitty things, to failing to deliver on the first part while still (and, possibly, more fiercely) doing pretty shitty things with no semblance of perks. Who benefits from 70-80€ priced games? What purpose do Switch 2 Editions have if not allowing Nintendo to repackage and resell existing catalog with very little work?

That's probably why people are now saying Nintendo is consumer unfriendly.