I agree they can't afford to.

But they couldn't afford to let Wii U fall into a game drought for the first eight months of its life either, but they did.

Hyrule Warriors hasn't been delayed. MK8 wasn't as far as I remember. A Link Between Worlds wasn't. DKTF was. Treasure Tracker has been, likely to fill out the monthly release schedule for 2015 and to not be over looked this holiday season. I'm not seeing a pattern. If anything, it has been getting better.

Much doesn't seem to have hard release dates.

lolno

I don't recall Super Mario 3D World having a delay. Or Mario Kart 8. Or Wind Waker HD. People just want to be nihilistic.

There have been rumors behind the scenes for a while now that its getting pushed back.

if I'm a betting man then I still say it hits this year but theres been whispers and rumors of this happening for months.

Pikmin 3, Tropical Freeze, Xenoblade Chronicles X, Treasure Tracker, Wii Fit U, Wii Party U, and Wonderful 101 all saw delays.

I feel the timing of the MK8 DLC has more to do with maintaining focus on the entry throughout the lifetime of the Wii U, and to add more value to the game close to the holiday season, rather than being a stopgap to cover a delay of Smash Bros.

The DLC has been timed every 6 months since the release, they could have scheduled it in order to have the updates on Nov and May respectively.

And expect the DLC to be available at the end of the month, MK8 was released then; we'll be waiting an extra 30 days for them

I wouldn't be surprised, but I hope it releases in 2014. Also, the Wii U really needs it for this holiday season.

I doubt it. Why would they do such a thing?