Nintendo's base of support for its core franchises is considerably less than many people led themselves to believe from Wii sales. Sure its core franchises sold well on Wii, but they are not why tens of millions of people bought Wii. Biggest selling games on Wii were skewed to Wiimote games. Of the 7 games that sold >20 million on Wii 5 are of the waggle variety.
So many of those people who bought into the Wiimote phenomenon and were first time console owners are not highly motivated to be multi-gen buyers.
Plus I think a lot of Xbox 360's late generation success, esp in USA and UK, were Wii owners looking to upgrade their motion control experience to HD and they got into Kinect. Which means they've probably left Nintendo behind for a good while at least.
The tablet controller is not something to get people excited.
Wii U is selling to Nintendo's core multi-generation audience, but it isn't getting much traction with the swing crowd, or the blue ocean.
“The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.” - Bertrand Russell
"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace."
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