We naturally have so many backers who opted for Wii U. Because of the size of the team, we couldn’t take on all the consoles. You can imagine from a developer stand-point, that porting from PC to PS4 and Xbox One is slightly more straightforward than porting to Wii U.

“I also think it feels right playing it on a Nintendo system to some people.

“But the other versions will be fantastic as well.”

Technical art director Mark Stevenson added: “We wanted to make sure that Wii U gets the right attention. There is a lot of nostalgia around Banjo, Banjo heralds from Rare’s Nintendo’s days, and we are all massive Nintendo fans as well.”

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/yooka-laylee-delayed-to-2017-playtonic-internally-handling-wii-u-and-pc-versions/0167997

He basically say Wii U version will be of one best versions, there is nothing from all this that you make just assume that they will canne Wii U version.

Just to be clear, they announced Wii U version of game in january 2013, they showed several times Wii U version, every time they talked about game they mentioned Wii U, at E3 Wii U version of Zelda will be only version of game, Wii U version of game is basically done, we already had basically same situation with TP and TP GC version wasn't canned, and you still think they will canned Wii U version!?

Wow, you really gives totally new meaning to pessimism.

The Wii U versions of 90s Arcade Racer, Aliens Colonial Marines, and Project Cars were also talked up by their devs as "it's going to be one of the best versions" or "it's definitely coming and it won't be a lazy port". All were cancelled.

Well there are differences, Aliens Colonial Marines is not backed project, huge amount of backers for this game are Wii U owners. Second, developers are huge Nintendo fans and game is basically spiritual successor to Banjo Kazooie 64 and they giving huge atention to Wii U version, it make sense to relase game on evre Nintendo platform they can. Third, Wii U at this point is dead and we know NX is coming in around 9 months, if they really have plans to canne Wii U version, now would best time to announce that, but instead that they confirmed Wii U version and basically said Wii U version will be one of best versions of game.

I can smell some Yooka-Laylee Amiibos too. ;)

NX hasn't been officially unveiled yet, they may have to wait for that before announcing it for NX; remember the recent case of the RISE: Race to the Future trailer that first aired with a placeholder NX logo which was blurred out shortly afterwards?

As for the rest, I expect they'll try to get away with it by playing the "it's coming to NX so we haven't betrayed Nintendo fans" card. They'll claim they couldn't get it running on Wii U the way they wanted, like the Project Cars guys.

NX is officially announced and we hve time frame of release, March 2017. That's because Nintendo don't want anybody talk about NX games yet until they reveal it.

This guys are totally different guys from Project Cars guys, they actually love Nintendo and Wii U, I am pretty sure game like this will have good sales on Wii U too. Maybe they they will canned Wii U version at end, but that doesn't seems too likely at this point.

Not many games have been confirmed for NX at this point. I don't think Playtonic are lying about currently trying to bring the game to Wii U, I just think that between now and release they will change their mind, like Slightly Mad and Nicalis did. If NX is unveiled later this year and offers a much easier platform to port to than Wii U, they'll probably jump ship instead of trying to push ahead with the Wii U version.

Playtonic probably already working on NX version of game too. Wii U is dead and they know NX is coming in 9 monts, there is no surprises left, if they could have plans for ditching Wii U version, they would do that now and they wouldn't talk about Wii U version.

They probably still think they can push through with the Wii U version and work through whatever problems they run into with porting it. (Architecture and horsepower primarily) However, I expect that as the Wii U version continues to prove troublesome and NX relatively painless, they'll can the former and go all in with the latter, claiming that by bringing it to NX they're honouring their pledge to Nintendo gamers.

I highly doubt tha Yooka-Laylee is problematic to bring to Wii U.  It's very pretty, but technically nothing special.

Also, don't ever say the phrase "change their minds like Slightly Mad."  There was never a Wii U version of Project CARS, not at any real stage of development.  There was never a single image or video and after they dropped the version they even insulted the Wii U audience, a move that essentially all but confirmed that there was never a Wii U version.  They just wanted their funding to succeed.  And I will stand by that to the death cause I firmly believe it to be so: they lied and swindled many people - if their polls on their site about desired versions are to be believed - out of money to fund their project that they then put onto every platform BUT theirs and flipped them off for good measure.  

They probably still think they can push through with the Wii U version and work through whatever problems they run into with porting it. (Architecture and horsepower primarily) However, I expect that as the Wii U version continues to prove troublesome and NX relatively painless, they'll can the former and go all in with the latter, claiming that by bringing it to NX they're honouring their pledge to Nintendo gamers.