snyps on 16 October 2017
I agree that such a thing could have been possible. The notion that comes to my mind about why it didn't is that the Wii U was a small and manageable step in that direction and Nintendo moves cautiously. It took a full re-organization of their company structure to produce the hybrid. Plus the partnerships for the switch needed to be formed. It was a huge switch for them to make and they had to plan it out carefully.
If they had released it back then it could have helped the sales of the vita just through promoting the "console quality" handheld market.
