Nintendo charged $112 for replacement gamepads in Japan. https://www.geek.com/games/nintendo-will-finally-sell-wii-u-gamepads-separately-but-only-in-japan-1640409/ I remember reading somewhere else that it cost Nintendo $90 to manufacture a gamepad. So if a regular controller costs $20 to make then the gamepad added $70-$80 to the price of the Wii U, depending on Nintendo's desired profit margin on consoles. 

And that was $70 that could have gone to performance. My point stands, the Gampad was expensive and brought nothing to the table. It was a poor decison. I bought a Pro controller and rarely tocuhed the Gamepad, so I paid $70 for what exactly?  And $70 is being super generous considering Nintendo charged $112 for a replacement.

It is especially worth noting the Wii U launched in 2012.  Your article is dated 2015....  3 years after launch Nintendo charged $112....  meaning it was more expensive 3 years prior, given we both know tech drops in price over time.

The price of the controller was a real killer. There was never a significant price drop of the unit because of it. Basically you were paying PS4 money for previous gen tech with a Useless controller that didn't do anything to merit its existence.

@Sammy

Exactly, and I say that as a core Nintendo fan who has bought every home console they have released.

I actually liked the WiiU. But, I always thought the gamepad looked like 90s tech. Maybe it seemed cool while in development a few years before launch. But, when it hit the market, the cool new tech was Apple's 3/8" thick (1cm) iPad. The Wii U looked ridiculous in comparison. It turned me off right from the beginning, and I'm sure I wasn't the only one.

Beyond that, I agree with most everyone else that the dry spells and the price point (without substantial decreases over time) were very big negatives too.

@RolStoppable

The Switch remains the most powerful dedicated handheld around. So yes, specs matter. You are paying 300 dollars and you are getting great tech as far as Handhelds go. 200 if you get the lite version. The Wii U was hampered by a collection of issues, horsepower being one of them.

I did not own a Wii, but did buy and actually really enjoy the Wii U. Many games I really like playing to this day (Splatoon, NSMBU, 3D World, Pikmin 3, Breath of the wild, Rayman Legends, Mario Maker, Lego City undercover, Mario Kart 8, and more I am missing). I even find the gamepad fairly comfortable to use myself, and use the pro controller still on my switch.

I think there are multiple reasons it didn't do well, but would have liked to see it do better since me and my family have gotten a lot of entertainment from this system.

Lots of factors contributed to the Wii U's failure, but really the games are by far the most important thing.  Nintendo can, and often does, get most things wrong, but when their games are good enough it doesn't matter.  Look, the Switch is underpowered, has a crappy paid online service and got rid of the Virtual Console.  It has expensive HD rumble joycons that have no killer app to showcase this technology.  Has any of those things kept the Switch from succeeding?  Nope.  If the games are good enough, then that is all you really need.

More specifically, they didn't make killer apps for their Wii fanbase.  The really big franchises on the Wii were: Wii Sports, Wii Fit, 2D Mario, and Mario Kart.  The Wii U got no Wii Sports or Wii Fit game.  Most 2D Mario fans consider the Wii U game to be disappointing.  That really only leaves Mario Kart.  Mario Kart, by itself, is not enough to make a console succeed.  Both the N64 and Gamecube had good Mario Kart games, but those consoles still got stomped on by Sony.  So in the end Nintendo didn't have the killer apps that the Wii audience was looking for.

Also, the most important time for Nintendo to launch a killer app is in the first 12 months.  I actually think if Nintendo could have somehow gotten Breath of the Wild, Mario Maker, and Splatoon out in the first 12 months, then the Wii U would have done a lot better.  Switch had 4 heavy hitters during its first year: BotW, Mario Kart 8 D, Splatoon 2, and Mario Odyssey.  Wii U didn't have any games during it's first 12 months that were as strong as any of these games.

Nintendo consoles succeed when they have a very popular killer app (or apps) that launch early in the consoles lifetime, especially during the first 12 months.  The Wii U didn't have that, and that is by far the biggest reason why it failed.

Pretty much what everyone else said.
I bought a Wii U on day one with nsmbu, call of duty black ops 2, and Nintendo Land.

I think I was back to playing on my Xbox 360 before the day was over. You can't sell a PS3/360 console with no compelling software, lackluster online, worse performance, and a higher price tag. It was suicide.

With that said, I really liked the game pad . It made a lot of games more fun and playing two players in the same room with my own screen was pretty awesome.

Leave the Wii U alone! She was trying her best!