Sure, we all wish online capabilities were free. I used to love not paying for online in PS3, but when I got my PS+ sub this november, although the initial $50 (for a year) was hefty for me, i am reaping the benefits. I have played multiple games, across 3 different consoles (PS3, PS4 and Vita) and taken advantage of some serious discounted sales (Ni No Kuni, Tales of Xillia, etc)
The Wii U will always have the advantage of free online but I think its online communities, activities and platform will never be on par with the Sony and even less from Microsoft. That being said, many casual players will not care for the "dedicated servers" or "cloud computing" or whatever the fuck the HD twins keep spouting about.
Also, the Wii U does not have a lot of online games, let's be honest here. Mario Kart 8 being the biggest right now, followed by Smash Bros which is usually enjoyed more with local players from all my time in All Stars and on Brawl on occassions.
"Trick shot? The trick is NOT to get shot." - Lucian
