I agree that Nintendo dropped the ball with their hardware on the Wii-U. There are several key factors weighing into this:
Game developers have been telling the console manufacturers for years that they want a standardized development platform so that porting games to all of the consoles is cheaper. Sony and Microsoft finally got the message which is why both next gen systems are x64 based. Nintendo's console is still entirely custom. Porting games to it requires developers to ramp-up familiarity with that consoles abilities and development environment. Developers are already familiar with PC architecture and development tools which allows them to "hit the ground running". Sony and Microsoft's decision to move to a PC architecture makes Nintendo look comparatively uncooperative to developers.
Part of what inspires customers to buy new games is the desire to experience something new. For the past few console generations Nintendo has refused to compete with the other consoles on technical merit. At first this wasn't a problem as the gap was minimal. But over time that gap has grown and now Nintendo's console is so far behind its competitors in power that hardcore gamers find the console to be "been there done that".
Making money in game development is all about sales volume. The Wii was a very popular console with casual gamers. That made it a potentially attractive console for developers. But somehow the Wii ended up with a glut of third party titles targeting casual gamers and a conspicuous lack of AAA titles attractive to hard-core gamers. That flood of casual games was so thorough that none of the third party developers were able to make any money on the Wii. I think the Wii-U looks a lot like "more of the same" to both developers and hard-core gamers and so it's selling poorly. It's not as attractive as the Wii was to casual gamers due to the tablet based control. It's not as attractive to hardcore gamers because many still feel betrayed by the significant lack of AAA 3rd party titles on the Wii. And it's not attractive to developers because it's comparatively difficult to develop for and the customer base is too small this time to make it worth the investment.
Nintendo has a huge problem on their hands and I'm not sure how they can fix it.
Game developers have been telling the console manufacturers for years that they want a standardized development platform so that porting games to all of the consoles is cheaper. Sony and Microsoft finally got the message which is why both next gen systems are x64 based. Nintendo's console is still entirely custom. Porting games to it requires developers to ramp-up familiarity with that consoles abilities and development environment. Developers are already familiar with PC architecture and development tools which allows them to "hit the ground running". Sony and Microsoft's decision to move to a PC architecture makes Nintendo look comparatively uncooperative to developers.
Part of what inspires customers to buy new games is the desire to experience something new. For the past few console generations Nintendo has refused to compete with the other consoles on technical merit. At first this wasn't a problem as the gap was minimal. But over time that gap has grown and now Nintendo's console is so far behind its competitors in power that hardcore gamers find the console to be "been there done that".
Making money in game development is all about sales volume. The Wii was a very popular console with casual gamers. That made it a potentially attractive console for developers. But somehow the Wii ended up with a glut of third party titles targeting casual gamers and a conspicuous lack of AAA titles attractive to hard-core gamers. That flood of casual games was so thorough that none of the third party developers were able to make any money on the Wii. I think the Wii-U looks a lot like "more of the same" to both developers and hard-core gamers and so it's selling poorly. It's not as attractive as the Wii was to casual gamers due to the tablet based control. It's not as attractive to hardcore gamers because many still feel betrayed by the significant lack of AAA 3rd party titles on the Wii. And it's not attractive to developers because it's comparatively difficult to develop for and the customer base is too small this time to make it worth the investment.
Nintendo has a huge problem on their hands and I'm not sure how they can fix it.
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