Your hypothesis has a couple of flaws. The Wii U had great Nintendo first-party games. What they failed to do was court third-parties. IP isn't the whole story

Your hypothesis has a couple of flaws. The Wii U had great Nintendo first-party games. What they failed to do was court third-parties. IP isn't the whole story. The Vita is a similar story. Shenmue was groundbreaking at the time of the Dreamcast, Jet Set Radio and Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 were lightyears ahead of the PlayStation. I could go on.