1) Price
The Price is fine. I dunno why people keep comparing the Wii U to the DS when the DS was clearly a portable system. Look at the flip side. The Wii U was sold at $350 _with_ a game and free networking options. People bought PS4s at $400 _without_ a game and no free networking options. Price isn't the issue here. Value _is_. This brings us to our next category:
2) Games
This was the real problem. The Wii U had a dry spell through the better part of 2013. If there aren't any games to sell the system, the system begins to die. The Wii U had very strong momentum right out of the gate. However, Nintendo underestimated the time it would take to develop HD content. They were caught unprepared and that was entirely Nintendo's fault. They should've done a bit more research into HD development than they did. Their inability to plan ahead for the Wii U spelled doom for the system. Right now, their games are releasing and it's certainly helping the Wii U rise from the ashes. However, if Mario Kart 8 came out in 2013 - if Pikmin, Wonderful 101, Super Mario 3D World and etc. came out month after month after month in 2013, the Wii U would've been able to keep its momentum and not be in the slump it's in now.
Conclusion:
Games sell a system. The success of the Wii made Nintendo complacent and lazy. They figured they could just release another "Wii" and continue to ride on its previous success. They figured they could do everything within the last minute and worry about the technicalities later. They were wrong! They are just now realizing that consumers are a lot more informed today than they were many years ago. They can no longer make a product and _force_ consumers to take what they give them. They must now give in to what consumers want or face obsoletion.
