Nintendo believes that if it can right the Wii U ship and get more consoles in consumers' homes, third-party publishers will naturally follow with content of their own.
"We want the same thing that the third parties want, which is to grow the installed base," NoA Senior Director of Communication, Charlie Scibetta, explained to Ars Technica. But how does the Big N plan to do that? With system-selling software like Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.
"We're confident that if we can do that by driving the installed base through first-party software, like Mario Kart 8, like Super Smash Bros., then the third-party developers will follow because then they'll see there's a large enough installed base that it's worth their investment to bring their games to our platform," he added. "So it's our job to grow that installed base to make it more attractive for them to come to our platform."
Do you think there's hope for Wii U on the third-party front? Judging by the current state of things, I'd say that ship has already sailed. Better luck next console generation, Nintendo!