I was thinking about this after all the EA talk. What incentives are there currently for Wii U development? Its not just the current small userbase thats the problem.

The console itself has no real identity. Its not aimed at any particular market, with Nintendo as a company seemingly not knowing what market theyre wanting. They have let go of what made the Wii such a success, by trying to grab hold of the PS360 market. The main problem with this is that the PS360 market simply isnt interested. The main 3rd party "pulls" that Nintendo have relied on currently for Wii U are games/series' that already have established userbases on PS360. Call of Duty, Assassin's Creed, Batman Arkham, Need for Speed, etc.

The Wii was directly aimed at expanding the market. It was ease of use that brought so many people in. Anyone could play Wii Sports. Any age group could have fun playing Wii Sports. Groups of people were having Wii Parties. Literally, inviting people round to party and play in groups on the Wii. It directly made the Wii what it was, a huge success. Nintendo abandoned this with Wii U. While the Wii U controller is a neat idea, its simply not pushing the ease of use mentality that the Wii had. 

So, it doesnt have the Wii audience. Its struggling for leftovers from the PS360 audience.

With the competition releasing consoles that will be far more powerful than Wii U (and thus having 3rd party game engines optimized for them), its not looking good for "next gen" games being put on Wii U. I think its going to be like the WIi to PS360 situation, though the Wii U wont be in a hole that deep (giggity).

I see no real incentives for Wii U development. It has no targeted market. Its pushing record low numbers sales-wise due to it being too expensive and having no library worth the cost. Far more powerful competition releasing shortly. Engines in development for next gen Sony/MS consoles and PC will need to be downgraded to work on Wii U.

Can someone list me some reasons why 3rd party publishers/developers should put money into Wii U development?

Obviously the WIi U will continue to get games, there is an audience still there afterall, but the reasons for development are IMO few and far between. Were already seeing big names ignoring the console, how many more will follow suit?

Nintendo funds it.

Or it's a platformer.

Nintendo should pay them to get their games on the system first; after that, hopefully nintendo users will buy them, and the game will sell good numbers, so that nintendo does not need to "motivate" 3rd party developers again. M$ did this in the beginning of the 360 cycle and it worked wonders.

Ah, a cheaper development cost. Make a exclusive partnership like they did with Sega, cause they have a lot more money to spend. They actually become the market leader. Nintendo shows its secret hand and becomes more appealing. Just like the Wii, they will get their fair share of games.

Take what Rol put out very well and summarize it down to this... to make money.

Pity.

Most of the multi platform games being released for the Wii U will only account for 1-5% of total sales (outside a few games that did well on the Wii, like Skylanders and Rayman...and even Ubisoft delayed that.) so in terms of risk; releasing games on the console poses no real risk as the Wii U version will server no purpose outside token showmanship and giving Nintendo fans something to gloat for a while (omg 3rd party support for the Wii U). The main focus will still be on PS360.

The real risk comes when the Wii U version of said games are expected to pull their weight (which will probably be never, outside Nintendo paying for exclusivity in which they assume all risk and loss) as the PS360 decline and the next gen sony and microsoft consoles come into form. I'm guessing 2nd half 2013 and 1st half 2014 will be "the token year" and depending on how the Wii U forms from that, see if 3rd party games continue to come to the system.

If you look at the userbase of this past generation, many Wii gamers bought a PS3 or X360. If they come back to Wii U in full force, you have people who have been exposed to core gamers through a few years.
It`s not a concrete market, but sure is a potential market.

I think the reason you aren`t seeing it right now it`s because Wii U has virtually nothing to offer to the good old Nintendo fan. The only big game is NSMB U, but the same type of look for the fourth time, coming right after NSMB 2, just was a bad choice/decision and has taken it`s toll on Wii U.

With WW, Mario 3D, Yoshi, Pikmin 3 and Mario Kart coming, Wii U`s userbase will grow rapidly and these PS3/X360 owners, if given the chance of buying their favourite 3rd party games on Wii U, will now have a reason to think twice on buying 3rd party games on X720/X360 or PS3/PS4.

Investment. Folks who do actually buy Wii U now will want something to play, and if you do it now, while you're making most of your money from the PS3/360 versions, you can cost-effectively gain mindshare on the platform. Nintendo's not going to let Wii U fail completely, and as it becomes healthier in the future, people will remember the Wii U games they bought earlier in the cycle and be more willing to try sequels.

Trainwreck got it mostly right, but i view it more optimistically, that a healthy Wii U buying base will help third parties in that painful era between the decline of the PS3/360 and proper rise of their successors.

Just to say Im not ignoring the thread/ replies and Ill have the time to properly reply later.