Not exactly an unfair assessment, but the problem here lies in the context with which this assessment is being presented: as though this is the reason why the Wii U has failed.
The reality is, it has been SCE's policy to court third party development from the very beginning of the Playstation product line. Keep in mind when Sony entered the market in a field dominated by Sega and Nintendo, they had no solid first party IPs, no established franchises, etc. It was companies like Namco and Capcom that essentially carried the platform until Sony was able to sell consumers on their own IPs. Even then, the policy of making the platform a favorable home to third party developers never changed.
This is in stark contrast to Nintendo's policies during the NES and SNES generations. Remember the Nintendo Seal of Approval? Policies regarding payment for ROM chips and pricing based upon the amount of memory a developer's software could be written on, etc. etc.
So, third party developers jumped ship. Back in 1995.
With all the platform choices on which to publish, no one is strong-arming anyone, dealing dirty under the table, etc. to force a developer to support one platform and not the other. The worst case scenario? Paying for exclusive content, a period of platform exclusivity or paying added incentive for the development of a project which goes into making more content or improving content. Hardly sinister.
Granted if a company just wants to pay a developer for exclusive publishing rights, with no additional material to be made, said company is essentially buying whatever copies of software that could have been sold on a competing platform. Not the best business strategy, but this does provide some level of security for the developer if their game underperforms.
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