The Wii U's problem, in a nutshell, is that it only appeals to pre-existing fans of the Nintendo style. I don't see much growth in the future stemming from that, which is not good. The next Nintendo console will need to win new consumers with precious little hold-over. In other words, the Nintendo fan-base itself will continue to shrink unless something is done.
The situation with Nintendo is kind of interesting, to be honest. It's a company where a few aging game developers are in complete control. In a world where businessmen often seem out of touch with the audience, that sounds like a great idea. However, the negatives of that are as apparent as the positives. They are going to keep making their games exactly the way they want to make them with little regard for the changing market. They haven't been paying attention to anything except themselves for a very long time. That has allowed them to perfect those specific areas of expertise, yes, but at the cost of diversity and the patronage of those who have developed a taste for new and different flavors.
None of that would be a problem if they were just a software company. Of course, they're also a hardware company, which is where the difficulty dwells.
If they want to grow, then I think Nintendo is going to finally have to take control away from the regime that has ruled for so long. They need someone who can look outward as well as inward, who understands the global audience, and has the power to make game development decisions without regard to tenure.
