Watching my kids play, the WiiU still gets the most attention. Even lego games that we have on both ps4 and WiiU (I'm a bit impulsive sometimes when it comes to sales...) they prefer to play on the WiiU. It runs slower, but the gamepad is the differentiator. Especially since they both get to play on a full screen instead of splitscreen. And it's not just lego games, my 5 year old is actually getting quite good in Fast Racing Neo.

It seems kind of a step back that the Switch can't beam to the dock for multiplayer. Or for one playing on the pad while the other watches along on the tv. Plus since it doesn't have youtube etc (yet) means it's still largely ignored in favor of the gamepad.

Was the price too high? The name too confusing? Or simply a lack of games?
What I like about the gamepad is that it's always near the console, never have to look far for it because of the limited range. It's a hassle sometimes, yet it's never been lost!

Like literally everything that could possibly go wrong for a console to be successful happened with the Wii U.

Name, Concept, Marketing, you name it, all went wrong.

awful name, poor marketing, similarities to Wii (consumer confusion), lack of big-name AAA games, etc.

I like the console, but it was a huge mess, and I am glad that the Switch is a massive massive improvement. I still don't know WTF Nintendo were thinking when designing the U.

Because they didn't give us a Metroid at E3 2015 

Same reason Vita did. No games.

Cause it wasn't the switch

Because humans can't focus simultaneously on two screens, thus the tablet controller is a waste of $.
Any functionality it offers, can be approximated via gyro or button control of modal information display.
(i.e. instead of changing head angle/ eye focus, tilt controller to bring up alternate view window on screen)
The same budget could have gone towards more GPU/CPU/RAM and all that enables. Or simply a cheaper price.

Yes, young children like the simple games Nintendo tends to prioritize, but that was true on previous conventional Nintendo consoles as well.

Nintendo did an abysmal job marketing the system and distinguishing it from the Wii. A good and unique name itself would have added an extra 5m lt alone, I'm sure of it. Wii U always sounded like a special edition of the Wii or something.

And then there was the games drought the first year or so. Nothing before 3d World a full year into the lifecycle really looked appealing enough to warrant a new system purchase. They got it together by 2014, but by then the system's rep was pretty much shot in the public eye. While Switch technically hasn't had a strong exclusive software lineup either, since BotW and MK8 can both be played on Wii U, the install base for Wii U is so low it essentially makes them exclusive/new games to a lot of people buying a Switch. And they're both extremely appealing titles, unlike New Super Mario Bros U and Pikmin 3, which is all that was really selling the Wii U its first year. Not to mention the very appealing titles like Splatoon 2 and Odyssey we know are coming before the system turns 9 months old, along with the possibility of something else big they might be keeping secret till e3 for release this year.

Finally, the gamepad really did seem like a not fully realized concept. There was no real way to build much software around utilizing those two screens effectively, so therefore the main draw became being able to use it to play off the TV screen. But you couldn't even leave your living room and the signal would break. It really was like a prototype for the Switch's fully realized concept.

It seems they wanted to make the Switch, but it wasn't possible yet, so they went with a handheld for the livingroom...

They should have advertised and focused on off-screen play much more, and the advantages it has in multiplayer. The thing is that my kids prefer to play on the wiiU together when given the choice of the same game on ps4 and WiiU.

But yeah, the whole asynchronous gameplay idea was a flop. Nobody wanted to be the odd man out doing 'chores' on the gamepad in Rayman Legends and New Super Mario U. Nintendoland had a few nice minigames yet that was it.

While it was nice to have touch screen control on your inventory it wasn't really a game changer. With Pikmin 3 I ended up playing on the gamepad and ignoring the tv in favor of the touchscreen controls. Same for Super Mario Maker.

My kids mostly use it as a handheld. I guess that's what the WiiU was. A very akward handheld.

I thought the price was good at the time. But that's coming off paying CAD 650 at launch for ps4, and a exchange rate on par with the US when the WiiU came out, CAD 350 for the WiiU deluxe was a good deal to me.

The name, maybe. I always thought that weird to be confusing but I follow the gaming news ofcourse. XBox One isn't any better! (not doing too well either though lol)

Lack of games, yes it had a big drought. It would have helped if you could play Wii games on the gamepad with the gamepad controls. Still needing a wii-mote and nunchuck kinda defeated playing them on the gamepad.