Honestly, Nintendo has backed themselves into a corner where they have no choice but to spend money. If they'd done so sooner, things would have been better now. However, the massive success of the Wii coupled with low production costs probably lulled them into a false sense of security, where they thought they could go into this generation at the same pace.
Unfortunately, betting on the success of hardware gimmicks/innovations is a pretty steep gamble. If you lose--and there is a good chance you will--then you'd better be in a position where you can minimize the damage. Nintendo, though, was performing without much of a net and the failure of the Wii U caught them by surprise.
The good news is they seem to be in the process of building up for the future. Now is the time, if they want to be ready for next gen. We won't see it, though, not for a few years, so it's hard to say for sure, but I get the impression that they now understand that they can no longer simply count on the strength of their brand to draw profit.
