The console flopped, but the controller idea could still be viable, if the games can be there. Multiple gamepads would be one of the main ways you get the idea going. Moving on from Wiimotes is another.
Multiple Gamepads sounds expensive. Plus this screen-in-the-controller idea was also promoted as this big ace in the hole for the Gamecube and no fucks were given then either.
I think it is very telling that after a generation of motion controls and guitar controllers, the PS4 won this generation almost instantly by simply being a conventional videogame console. Sony didn't ask anyone to compromise hardware or pay extra for controller gimmicks, while Nintendo and Microsoft did, and the PS4 cleaned their clocks. I can't think of a more clear rejection of such concepts as that.
The time for bullshit is over. No gimmicks, no distractions, no tradeoffs, no "please understand"s. Nintendo needs to make a great console with great games that meets the expectations of video game customers in 2016 and the years to come.
Plus Nintendo failed to deliver on all their promises of innovation and such for both the Wiimote and Gamepad. Both ideas end up being pretty half-baked and generally restricted to glorified tech demos, regardless of how many Wii's were sold. So you don't think that consumers aren't going to remember that? That after a generation of the Gamepad failing to meet it's potential that they're going to think that THIS time it will be different and the truly brilliant and innovative games are going to come? No, they're going to quite reasonably assume a repeat of prior generations. If Nintendo had such awesome ideas for a screen in a controller they would have done them on the Wii U. Why would they sit on great ideas while the Wii U struggled? Why would they launch the console with a glorified tech demo and a 2D platformer if they had something better in mind? And if they just needed time to develop that great idea it would have shown up by now.
Something that was just a great console with no bullshit would be quite out-of-character for Nintendo. That would suggest Nintendo has changed and that is what will get people interested in them again. The same old Nintendo is the Wii U and no one bought it. They're not going to buy anything that suggests a repeat of recent Nintendo generations and doubling down on the screen controller idea would be doing exactly that.