Has the Next Generation Abandoned Nintendo and the Wii U

Recently Bethesda announced that the Wii U was not even on their radar in terms of future games development. Pete Hines commented that hardware was the main issue but did not elaborate but for a company that is known for pushing visual boundaries especially with the id Tech 5 engine, it is clear that the latest system from Nintendo is just not up to snuff for the next gen plans.

With titles such as The Elder Scrolls Online, The Evil Within, and a new Wolfenstein game coming up, to say nothing of the possibilities of Rage 2 and Prey 2 it is clear that only the PC, Xbox and Playstation can capture their vision successfully.

There are also many other not so subtle signs that the new console is in serious trouble long term not the least of which is the pending release of the Playstation 4 and Xbox One systems.

The very popular Call of Duty series opted not to make any DLC maps for Black Ops 2 available for the Wii U version of the game and were late announcing that Ghosts would be available for the console as well.
Yes there are many big name games still scheduled for the console but it appears that more and more companies will be following Bethesda and limiting their offerings for the Wii U or skipping them entirely.
Nintendo tends to rarely deviate from their model as even with the success of the Wii, it was lacking in terms of online play and cutting edge graphics.

Games such as Star Wars: The Force Unleashed had to eliminate segments of the game and scale down graphics in order to be able to work on the Wii.

Although it is a solid console, the Wii U is lacking when compared to the new consoles and it can be debated that it does not even match the Xbox 360 and PS 3 in terms of features and abilities.

The lack of sales has also hurt as developers are not willing to develop games for a console that require them to scale back features especially for a smaller market base.

Nintendo has always focused on their core games such as side scrolling games like Mario and Donkey Kong Country. They have some great offerings coming with Mario Kart 8, Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze and new offerings from Zelda.

That being said, Nintendo must focus on making the best possible exclusives they can as it is becoming clear that the third party developers are not willing to invest in the system less than one year after it launched. With a rumored pre reduction coming The Wii U looks like it has been relegated to a niche market and Nintendo Diehards due to disinterest from developers.