It might be easier than the Wii, but compared to PS4 + X1, definitely not. For multiplat games now it is arguably not worth the added development cost/time/resources.

They didn't go for the 'CoD Casuals' who many core gamers are friends with. What consoles your friends use does affect you.

there are alot of reasons, but the biggest is marketing and brand power. The wii really killed nintendo's reputation as a game console manufacturer. What was good in the short term was bad in the long term. I really think they CAN turn things around over the next 2 generations, but it really will take a decade and they really have to execute. There are alot of practices that they can keep in place, but there some things that obviously need to change.

Smash is not anywhere near the level of Mario Kart. I am also talking about big games, not spinoffs like Super Mario 3D World, Tropical Freeze, or Rainbow Curse.

Lack of variety of games. Before most gamers will invest 300 - 400 for a system they look at what kind of games are on the system.

Lack of perceived value - The gamepad increases the cost of the system, but many gamers don't see it as a necessary component or really adding a lot of fun to the game.

I want to add to this, if you look at what Microsoft did and how they quickly corrected their mistakes. With the Kinect, Xbox1 cost 500. Their sales sucked the first year, they dropped it, reducing the cost of the system to $400, and even did a price drop down to 350. They also shifted the conversation away from intrusive DRM, doing away with used games, xbox is the all in one console, and telling people to get over it in terms of always being online and shifted the conversation to these are upcoming exclusives, more game centric, and even some innovation such as Hololens. Their sales have improved signifcantly. Will they win this generation? probably not, but they will sell enough to justify making another console for next generation. I think the next big thing Microsoft could do is a thinner redesign of the xbox one.

You could even say the same thing, about Sony last generation. Our console is the one that does it all, but it costs 600. Oh we screwed up, and they changed it and managed to turn the ship around to their credit.

Looking back a few years from now, I really hope keeping the gamepad was worth it because without they could have dropped the system down to 250 perhaps even 200 and sell it as a budget console or a secondary console where more people would bite. Instead of selling perhaps 20 million lifetime which is optimistic, perhaps it could be more like 30-40 million while selling more of their 1st party games at 50 - 60 a pop due to a larger install base. Not great, but good enough to justify continuing to make consoles.

They lost out on casuals, but I think they were declining with this audience even before Wii U, by the later half of 2010, it was becoming more and more obvious the Wii phenomenon was fading out.

A console tied to the "Wii" brand and philosophy (yes even with a more traditional controller) was never going to compete seriously for the Playstation or XBox audience, so that avenue was always closed too.

"Lastly, Nintendo is currently undergoing yet another shift. They will be moving away from the Wii U and 3DS. Their future will be one where they don't count on third parties, so they won't even attempt to build systems that satisfy the desires of the big third party publishers. Instead they will try to create a platform that suits the needs of consumers around the world, and their game development will most likely return to serving the market instead of dictating what the market is supposed to buy."

Granted, the OP was not about Nintendo's future business model, but this is essentially what the company is planning on doing/needs to do if they want to remain relevant.

There was talk about Nintendo creating a medical entertainment market and even medical equipment (this seems less likely), and this would fall in line with company plans to move in a different direction than home and handheld consoles; a market that is currently served best by Playstation and Xbox brands in the home space, and iOS and Android in the mobile space.

At this point, Nintendo is heavily relying upon the children's market for their portables due to migration to mobile gaming among other demographics and in the home space, it doesn't seem like much of a stretch to say that the majority of that market is primarily filled with consumers who have to buy Nintendo hardware in order to play Nintendo IP games.

Top two I would say are rushing and mismarketing. The gamepad design plus specs of the system to me scream early version. If the system had sat in the oven for another year, it would likely be more powerful with a more streamlined gamepad at the same price. But the real killer was the marketing. Their early campaigns were not only limited in broadcast but also uninformative, confusing, poorly directed, atrocious in tone, and overall entirely embarrassing. The ad campaigns were so awful I would swear they lowered sales.  I don't care what the console in question is like, give it the Wii U's awful marketing and it will fail.  Consumers aren't psychic, you have to inform and energize them concerning your product.