Well it would've been tough beyond this year as it is, as the generation gap between the Wii U and it's competitors grew. So not surprised they're winding down those kinds of games.
Additionally, it's sort of a chicken and the egg scenario. They need these games on the Wii U to grow the install base, but then they don't want to sell these games without the install base.
Nintendo should be really worried, this does not bode well for Nintendo. Ubisoft was one of the last large publishers making third party or multiplatforms for the console. It will also reinforce that M-rated games don't belong on a Nintendo console and will be tough to get any Rockstar game like GTA V on the console.
I have a hard time seeing the typical M-rated games doing well on Nintendo's platforms. It has less to do with Nintendo's own particular ecosystem ecosystem and more of the established franchises they have; they have more defined "homes" on other platforms. People who typically play Assassin's Creed or GTA probably don't consider a Nintendo platform to be the home to play it on, unless it's exclusive. The games they have been getting from third parties have almost always came with the condition that they were simply better elsewhere. I think that alone would kill an audience, especially to established IP. I honestly cannot name a multiplatform third party game on Wii U that is defined very heavily to
not look like a hand me down other than Rayman Legends, which was once an exclusive for the platform. Every single M rated game on the system does, sans Bayonetta 2 and Devil's Third...though some would argue that those are hand me downs because Nintendo is funding those third party games as first party releases.
With that said, companies should try to focus on games and franchises that seem to be more fit on a Nintendo system. The best ones typically have been platformers like Rayman, Mega Man, and Sonic, to name a few. I know the Wii U is doing poorly, but when all three of those IPs had multiplatform releases, I believe nearly every one of those games sold the most on Nintendo's; I believe Rayman Legends and Sonic Generations in particular sold more on Nintendo's line of hardware than others, which shocks me especially because for Generations, that was the
handheld version by Dimps, not even the main version marketed. It then becomes a situation of trying to capitalize on it. I don't think platformers from third party are really considered AAA anymore, so their chase and hemorrhaging in that space only confirms a separation from Nintendo. Those experiences are defined more on other platforms, which essentially leaves Nintendo in a void with only their first party efforts to define the platform.
