There's all this speculation about the X1 and PS4 having at least a 10 year lifecycle, but no one seems to be wondering how long the lifecycle of the Wii U will be.  So how long do you guys expect the Wii U's to be?  I'm guessing 5-6 years.

4-5 years.

I'd say four to five years.

I think 4 years basically, but with a caveat that Nintendo will likely release a tablet-like portable platform around 2015/16 which more or less matches the Wii U in power, allowing them to continue using the same engines/assets for several years longer.

A protable version of the Wii U controller is basically the Vita lol and Nintendo hates to do things similar to its competition, they wanna be unique so I don't see that happening.  Also a handheld that matches the power of the Wii U is impossible by 2015/16 imo.  Nintendo saw with the 3DS that their handhelds won't sell at $250, they need to keep the price low at around $150-175ish for them to sell.

Since it has already been out nearly a year, some of you are saying 4-5, really meaning it only has 3-4 years left? Get real people, itll last a regular Nintendo gen.

I'd say 5 years (2013,2014,2015,2016,2017) By 2018 it'll be dying a slow death and will barely have Nintendo support (like the Wii in 2012)

I'd say around 8.

Just remember life cycle is much longer than "time till successor releases"

Ya but Nintendo consoles don't last long after theur successor comes out, I mean just look at the Wii.  Support for that died off before the Wii U even came out.

Well, being less powerful means there's a lot of room for improvement, so I could see them coming out with something new in maybe five years. I could see Microsoft and Sony not wanting to move forward quite yet though, so depending on the next Nintendo system's power, we could see some interesting competition. (My mind likes to start wildly daydreaming about a scenario where everyone but Nintendo is completely content with staying put and Nintendo swoops in with some super-powerful system. One can dream...)