Sure, Splatoon and Mario Maker pretty much require the gamepad. But I think people tend to forget a number of other games that require it as well. Just taking a quick look at my shelf games like Game and Wario, The Wonderful 101, Nintendoland, Kirby and the Rainbow Curse, Wii Party U, they would all be impossible to play without the gamepad. I don't see how cutting off a not insignificant number of your games would cause better WiiU sales.

Even the games where the pad isn't completely integrated into the actual play of the game it would require SO much time and money from both Nintendo and third parties to make patches and updates so that all the other Wii U games would work without the pad, as they all work in even small ways. Getting rid of the gamepad would also require creating a NFC scanner device for Amiibos to hook up to your WiiU.

This sounds like an awful lot of wasted time and money to tick off a bunch of people. No thank you.

I completely forget about amiibos too and Rainbow Curse!

Also, doesn't Pikmin 3 require the use of the GamePad too?

Yeah, the pad is pretty important in Pikmin 3, it would be extremely hard to seperate the two.

Some games would be eaiser than others, like Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. But I think people who don't own a WiiU tend not to understand how important the pad is. And thats a lot of Nintendo's fault with their horrible marketing for such a great system.

And that's the REAL main problem that the Wii U had. Terrible marketing. If Nintendo had actually tried to distinguish it from the Wii. Or if it just had a less confusing name like the Wii 2. It would've sold better.
That's something they could learn from Sony: Naming their systems better.

No, the gamepad isn't NEEDED in Splatoon, but Nintendo would really have to work to figure out a way to make it work without it. In the dojo, it's just one on one so you don't use super jumps. In the main game though, you have to use them and I don't know how you'd do it without the gamepad. 

This. Now it is too late. Microsoft just managed to get the X1 to decent sales by dropping the Kinect a few months after launch and by dropping the price of the console drastically(whilst throwing in like 2-3 free games) and even the sales are nothing major. In Australia(and Im sure this is the same in other markets) if you factor in the value of those 2-3 X1 games, you are paying LESS for an X1 than you would for a Wii U Splatoon bundle. The market has completely forgotten the Wii U at this point and this will get worse as the X1 and especially PS4 gain even more steam with huge titles like MGSV, COD, Battlefront etc all make their way to those consoles whilst ignoring the Wii U....

Sure ☺

The gamepad gets used daily for Netflix, You tube, Off-screen play and Splatoon. It would be greatly missed if we lose the gamepad. Luckily it's quite big and doesn't get lost that easy in the couch. It's a backup tv remote as well, the tv remote does occasionally get lost in the couch.

it's a little late but it could happen, if the price of the console sold with a pro controller is 50€ or even more lower they could certainly sell more Wii U

honestly this thread is a waste of time. it has been discussed about 10 times already in 10 threads.

that ship has sailed Nintendo waited too long and sales now would be pointless with their next system around the corner. It be a slap in the face to new buyers that a new one is coming.