Actually Nintendo abandoned the Wii. I work at retail and we still get casuals asking about the Wii, but Nintendo just dropped it.

Past exclusivity doesn't denote automatic higher sales on the original console.   I can cite numerous franchises that started on one console that went on to sell greater on others.

It looks like he will play the goalpost game soon.

No, and nintendo doesn't need to have the most powerful console. MS's next console might be the most powerful though.

Naturally not every casual gamer/user of the Wii abandoned the system, that's a given. But a major part did. And dance games / fitness software are not the best example... they don't work very well on a tablet or smartphone.

Games like Carnival Games, Rayman Ravig Rabbids, Big Brain Academy and Boom Blox on the other hand, you can find in the thousands on mobile devices. And many of them are very popular and are played by over 100 million people: Angry Birds, Temple Run, Cut the Rope, Where's my XXX, Candy Crush, Plants vs. Zombies, Fruit Ninja...

last gen sold the most consoles if combining all major brands and I really doubt the core market is anywhere near that size.

The most logical explanation I can think of is that the market temporarily expanded because it was wow'd by the wii but eventually lost interest. Maybe for a brief period of time, gaming was considered 'cool' because of the wii and socially acceptable for more people? (honestly cant see a family sitting around a tv playing GTA or battlefield)

This makes sense because traditionally nintendo home consoles havent sold anywhere near 100m units, while the wii was able to do it alongside the successfull xbox 360 and PS3 which are both on 80m units.

Again, I just dont think the market is that big. I dont know where they all went, but evidently the vast majority dont seem to be coming back for the wii U, hence my reply that the market has abandoned them.

$10,000,000,000 revenue of the iOS-AppStore in 2013 should give you a hint, where many casual gamers went ;)

but it sure makes it a hell of alot easier doesnt it? if you already have an established audience for that game on the console. Lets not pretend that it doesnt and lets not ignore the fact you need an add on to even play the game on those other systems, further limiting its userbase on them and that both those systems have a smaller userbase. Either way bringing those two in doesnt even matter as it doesnt have any effect on the Wii sales, which i have stated have been in a decline but nobody has addressed that point. Where are they going? they arent buying them on other systems are they just saying screw it? name me these franchises and no dont cite series that went on to other systems but stopped being made on the original one.

its called the blue ocean, the blue ocean isnt around anymore, judging by the lower sales of blue ocean type software and HW but some people still are in denial. They went to the phones and tablets or they just stopped playing games, period. Pick your poison.

They can't do a PS4 next gen for two reasons.

1. No 3rd party support
2. Most people don't seem to value a Nintendo system for more than $250. So how are they going to pack PS4 parts in for that price from the start and make money?