The Gamecube had alot more third party support and the games it got, where BETTER versions than the PS2. Wii-U doesn't even have Madden. You know you're in deep shit when a game like that doesn't ship for your console.

I think, honestly, they need to open their wallets and say to some of these devs "look, we are going to assure you ___ in profit by insuring your software upfront". That would get SOME support back. You simply can't expect to sell a console without sport titles.

The point of no return was when they released it. It's failed. Nintendo will now have five years of coaxing the best performance they can possibly get out of it.

The better 3rd party games didn't happen too often and even then the PS2 versions sold much better. The PS2 had so many exclusives that it honestly didn't matter what 3rd party games the GC had too.

I also believe you are vastly over-estimating sport games influence on Nintendo systems. 

Wii Sports was a major reason people bought the Wii.

Edit: You're right that third party sports games alone probably wouldn't be making that much of a difference. But the market for sports games on Nintendo systems is massive.

The best selling Madden on Gamecube sold 700k and was the 69th best seller.

Just for comparison the best selling Madden on Xbox sold 1.86m and was the 12th best seller. The best selling Madden on PS2 sold over 5m and was the 15th best seller.

Madden had absolutely no affect on Gamecube sales while on Xbox/PS2 it was one of the most popular franchises.

The point of no return is if exactly one year from now, at the beggining of 2015, it didn't pick up the sales to more than acceptable levels. Nintendo has a good line-up for this year, and we also have to wait until E3 to see if they announce any big titles (Maybe Paper Mario U) for the second half of the year.
It's logical to expect a MK8´+ Wii U bundle and commercials everywhere. I remember a few years back when I saw the MK Wii commercial on tv all the time which actually surprised me since I live in Argentina and there are rarely proper videogame commercials, so if MK8 has that level of marketing, then it might push the sales further than we expect.

I don't think it matters if Nintendo is making money on each system sold (not sure if they are, maybe system + 1..).  Sure, Nintendo would rather have even more sales, but making some money is better than not since the console is already out in the wild.

3rd parties have already jumped ship for the most part...  So I think the Wii U's course is what it is regardless of how much it sells for Nintendo.  So I doubt there is a point of no return here.  If anything, it might accelerate a new console coming to market by a year at most.

Combined with what I just said, this is the best summary answer.  Its already release, now they just do the best they can with it.  

sup guys,new to the site,please dont everyone bash my first comment below lol,Im also a new owner of a 320GB PS3 Slim add me on PSN:Gio1764

well with many factors,Nintendo really dropped the ball with a fine powerful piece of hardware

1.No USB/Flash device support i was told/researched like with the PS3 where your able to watch media content(video,music,photos) like the PS3.

2.Why not make the gamepad optional? I bet you if the Wii U came equipped with a Pro Controller instead of that clunky Touch pad it would entice more consumers out there.Ive used it and i have to say the 3+ hours i just put in playing uncharted 3 with my PS3 controller i couldnt do with that pad,its just too big.

3.Price is a little to high,i think they should have went with a $250 price tag from jump tbh.

4 i think nintendo was blinded by the Wii success,thinking they were just going to walk through the door and beat sony & microsoft once again...WRONG HAHA

I honestly feel with a solid mario kart,smash bros,and more exclusives just isnt enough anymore,gamers want options,sure mario is great,love it to death,grew up playing super nintendo,64,gamecube,gameboy,ect...,but whats their to play once you get tired of mario,zelda,or you beat em,you want a solid madden,NBA 2K,FPS,racing,puzzle,ect... and from the graphics where the players jerseys/shorts dont even move on the Wii U thats pretty damn pathetic when 6 yr old hardware can easily achieve such a simple graphics imo

They have 2 options drop the price to $200 and bundle mario kart or smash bros,and try to either ditch that pad,and make the pro controller more of a priority,and BEEF UP their multi-media features,sad a 2013 console can even play DVDs,damn at least Blu-Ray now nintendo has no excuse for that one.

i agree,not even Mario can push their consoles anymore,they need help or else they'll be the next Sega publishing games for a living haha