They might as well drop it in early 2015 seeing that the WII U will be largely irrelevant at that time. There's essentially nothing nintendo can do to save the sinking ship. They won't just turn it around like they did with the 3DS because nintendo keeps giving the wrong games for the WII U. The WII U is truly a doomed console. 

The Wii U really needs re-branding and a new advertising campaign.

The 3DS is still doing good. Shame on VGchartz for overtracking by -that- much. That's why people don't respect their numbers.

ALBW also still did good. For 8 days those are good numbers, especially competing with Pokemon. Mario is doing pretty badly, on the other hand. It's literally the only Wii U game selling right now.

Would be crazy expensive. Interesting, but would probably sell worse than the Wii U. 

Getting wrong software isn't going to help the WII U. Bayonetta and X are irrelevant titles that won't move the WII U. You had better hope that nintendo won't pull another toon zelda otherwise it will pretty much be irrelevant in trying to move a massive amount of consoles. The gamecube didn't launch last. It was the xbox who launched last. The gamecube came a month before in japan. A console launching first means nothing if it keeps getting more irrelevant games. BTW the WII U is a system for hardcore gamers.

I've been checking the online stores bestsellers lists to see how the Wii U is doing. As of right now (in the lead up to Christmas), at Gamestop.com Wii U bundles are at numbers 2 & 10 (Mario & Luigi and WWHD), at Bestbuy.com it's at number 1 and at Walmart.com it's number 5. I'm not sure how this translates to the numbers we're seeing but I have a theory:

I asked at my local EB Games earlier last month how the Wii U was doing. He said the got 3 Mario & Luigi bundles in and sold them day one, but they didn't order any more as the back room was basically reserved for X1 and PS4 launch stock.

Basically, I don't even think retailers had room to stock Wii Us until a couple of weeks ago. Combine this with the reports of retailers selling out of Wii Us and it seems to me they simply weren't ordering them in until now, and if retailers aren't ordering them in, then they can't possibly sell. Make of that what you will, but I think the Wii U might be ok going into next year. If not, it's definitely time for Nintendo to rethink their strategy.

The NPD thread says vgchartz had it at 250k, either way that wouldnt make Patcher closer since 220k is exactly in the middle of 150 and 290

Let's make a comparison of what was available on the Gamecube and Wii U systems about one year after launch:

Gamecube

- Super Mario Sunshine (Full fledged 3D Mario title. Brand new gameplay concept.)

- The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (Brand new Zelda adventure.)

- Luigi's Mansion (Brand new series.)

- Animal Crossing (Brand new series.)

- Metroid Prime (Brand new take on the Metroid series.)

- Star Fox Adventures (Brand new take on the Star Fox series.)

- Mario Party 4 (Old concept. But great system-seller nonetheless.)

- Super Smash Bros. Melee (Best selling Gamecube game. Widely praised for its gameplay.)

Wii U

- Nintendo Land (Brand new series with several new gameplay aspects.)

- New Super Mario Bros. U (Previous entries were released for the DS, Wii and 3DS systems.)

- Super Mario 3D World (One previous entry found on the 3DS system.)

- The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD (Port with some improvements.)

- ZombieU (New concept. Low mass appeal.)

- Pikmin 3 (Sequel to a declining sub 2 million franchise.)

- Lego City Undercover (New take on an existing series. Weak as a system seller.)

- Monster Hunter Tri (Widely established series... In Japan.)

Now imagine that you, or any consumer for that matter, never owned any of the two consoles and ask yourselves which one looks more appealing. Also keeping in mind that the Gamecube is cheaper than the Wii U.

...

Point being that while some people are surprised that the Wii U is tracking below GC, I'm not.

Dropping early 2015 would mean one big thing: losing costumers and investors trust. Look at it this way, if Nintendo drops the Wii U early 2015 that would mean no Zelda for the Wii U, you realize what would that mean? First: pissing off your fanbase, which won't buy your next console. Second: losing all the money you invested in the game's development. 

I used Zelda as an example but this applies to any game. Nintendo strategy imo should be this: keep the 2014 lineup as it is, after that make "small" games, have only Zelda and maybe some few other games as big AAA tittles, the rest should be games with small development time and small costs (but not to the point of indie, I'm talking DKC or 3D World levels), have a steady flow of games during 2015 and 2016, and in 2017 launch the new console.

Of course what I mentioned won't make the Wii U sell well (probably nothing will), but it will at least be profitable, will keep the small fanbase happy and investors probably won't complain that much.

Sounds about right.  Even though the Wii U has been selling poorly, they know that Nintendo/Mario is still a huge seller during Christmas time.  If the boost that the Wii U got in the last 8 days of November keeps up through December then the Wii U should sell around 500k worldwide for the month, which would be a huge rebound considering only one big title was released.  Nintendo software lineup until August was terrible and the sales showed that.  Xbone/PS4 are going to have the same problem come next year. They won't drop to 60k like the Wii U did but I have a hard time seeing how they will move more than 125k per month with no software.