@Ronnie, I said more than just the above, take the whole post into context.
I don't think it's just because of one failure. I think it's also because of the failure of the Gamecube as well as the fact that the complete failure of the WiiU was off the back of their most successful home console in the Wii. The manner of its failure is more than it just being considered a failure itself.
Nintendo said the WiiU would be considered a success if it sold 50 million units... they were embarrassingly short!
Their him console market has been shrinking since the beginning, with the exception of the Wii.
I think they looked at that and at the most successful business, the handheld market, saw how that was shrinking too in the face of mobile gaming, and they thought to consolidate their two businesses in hope to share each of their consumer bases as well as trying to bring in more sales with the hybrid pitch.
But the console is a handheld, that's straightforward enough to see, so along with all the above and my previous post, I say they're stepping out of the typical home console generational race and doing their own thing.