Nintendo has made its business on doing the opposite of expecting big sales on release. I’m sure they like to see those large figures at the beginning but they pride themselves in their games having a “long tail”, which means that they get consistent sales over time. It’s why used Super Smash discs or Pokemon cartridges still resale for much higher than other games, it’s usually because people generally aren’t looking to get rid of those games.
Valve has also worked on supporting their games years and years after they’ve been released so that they continue to consistently bring in more money and new players, while other studios just look to finish the game and then hope to make more money by making a sequel.
