Wii U is sub 10k this week in Japan. I'm not sure how they'll manage to jolt those sales when there are no (notable?) releases for 7-8 weeks.
You left out the part about how the Vita outsold the Wii U:
Vita - 11,456
Wii U - 9,633
Don't worry guys, panic Nintendo is best Nintendo. A year from now, it will be selling 100,000 units a week.
I do actually think a year from now it will be beasting the 3DS. Maybe not in Japan. But its a far better system with far better prospects if they can right the ship in a similar way.
Wii U's poor sales aren't so much a result of poor performance or poor design than they are a symptom of poor strategy.
Around 2010 it was obvious that they'd started shifting resources to 3DS and Wii U: the only major games that released in the West after that point were games that were farmed to outside developers, and games that Japan had already seen.
They've definitely had their big internal teams working on Wii U games for a long time... I think they have tried to milk Wii sales a little too long (allowing the brand power to dwindle) - and I think they thought their current Wii U strategy would work as a holdover until the next gen consoles and E3 arrived.
Like 3DS, they released the system without a complete OS. It's slower than it should be and it has had bugs. While most owners are over that or have seen problems fixed, its left a poor first impression and contributed to negative press. I think they thought that the problem with 3DS' launch was that they didn't have a big name like Mario at launch, and I think they thought that NSMBU would rectify that. It's a good game, sure, but I think its too familiar -- the 'new' in the title is almost ironic. I don't think its a very marketable game series for a console launch generally... especially as they bizarrely launched another NSMB on 3DS a few months earlier. I also think the gaming community and online magazine editors expect more than a 2D mario for launch. Whether its right or wrong to hold those expectations is beside the point -- this again, contributed to negative publicity.
As it became clear that this year was becoming the target year for PS4/720, Nintendo did seem to put Wii U's hardware schedule into gear, but they didn't talk about it until quite late on. I think part of this stems from their desire to milk the Wii hardware for all that its worth. It's still selling reasonably well... and in fact, Wii U and Wii sales combined are higher than Wii and Gamecube sales were during the last transition. So you can understand them wanting to do that - but having the Wii still on shelves, with no new releases, is hurting the Wii U. The DS did the same thing to the 3DS when that first launched. Part of me almost thinks it would have been better to completely kill the Wii and DS markets off in stores -- cease production, only sell what's left.
Nintendo were coy about revealing new games when they announced the Wii U. We got Pikmin 3, NSMB and NintendoLand. Nothing more: no sizzle real for their own stuff as has been the usual tradition. This, to me, is a clear indicator of Nintendo's fear of being copied or countered. In a way, going first has been bad for them, because they've gone first but maintained utter secrecy until they've known more about the competition. Instead of taking advantage of this head start, they are STILL holding back on the games they are working on and the games they have planned. I have absolutely no doubt that Retro Studios' game will be amazing, that the next Mario and Zelda will be amazing, and that there are probably games in development we don't even expect -- perhaps something like Wii Sports... and things like Excite Truck and Punch Out, which I don't think anyone expected last gen. So where are they?
Nintendo seem to have thought that their paltry schedule would give room for third party games to perform. They seem to have thought that the console could just skirt by on scraps, and that when the other new consoles were fully unveiled - they could roll out their big guns in response, and they'd have any OS kinks ironed out by then. This must come as a shock to them, but they've actually managed to kill excitement for the machine and any momentum they could have had instead. This is ultimately what has been turning off third parties who might have been more interested had they really whipped up more hype for this thing. TLDR; they should have shown what they were working on - even if it was just target render stuff.
Regarding EA, and the origin schism -- if that rumour has any truth to it, Nintendo need to realise that some of their partners are sharks and that if they are going to enter into collaborations, then they have to have backup plans in case they fall through.
As an owner of the system, I feel confident it has a good future ahead in terms of games... I don't really mind if it ends up another Gamecube in terms of sales, but I do think that would be a shame. They should price drop this thing whenever they can, and tell us about games they're working on ASAP.
