Many factors actually:
1. YES Games was one of them - PS2 had: GTA, FF, MGS etc..
2. People conform to what is seen as cool by majority - The GCN was purple and looked like a lunch box, if you owned one you would be considered an outcast.
3. PS1 momentum
4. DVD Player (same for PS3 the BluRay player is what sold the console before the price drops and big games come out, reason I know is because they were advertising the system as the cheapest BluRay player on the market in AUS at one stage, and that is also played games, PS3 - $699-$1000, BluRay Player was $1200-$2000).
Now to say Wii U games excuse is weak is not entirely correct.
A console when it launches NEEDS games to sell it in the early stages of being established, or another feature that makes it stand out (like the PS3 as mentioned above).
I bet if GTA and FF suddenly become Wii U exclusives, aside from the uproar on the internet and threats of mass, suicides, people would shit and by the Wii U,
This happened in the PS1 era, when FF shifted to PS1 and other great JRPGS game to PS1, people followed, hence why you now see many NES/SNES games on Playstation systems.
