Let's be honest, Broody, it's just Nintendo's way of adapting to a market that is continually satisfied with screwing the modern gamer over.
I had hoped they would be a bastion. I had hoped wrong. The fact that Splatoon is doing well generally everywhere (for a Wii U title, at least, LOL) just further accentuates the fact that Nintendo will be okay with doing the same thing in the future. Hell, Pikmin 3 was already a sign, with Nintendo locking out challenge stages at certain point a even though they were free. And that was made by Miyamoto.
Once they see the profitability of the smartphone market, we can kiss Nintendo's consumer-friendly ass goodbye. It's surprising, because in terms of the 3DS they still seem to be attempting to test the limits of free-to-play, freed to start, etc. but with the Wii U, they have hit their market solidly because the library is utter ****. People are desperate for games and will settle with shady business practices as long as they get their fix. The only thing I can praise Nintendo for is that said content is free- but who knows how long that will last? Watters himself said for the longest time that Nintendo wouldn't go mobile, and yet, look at them now.
In some ways, I believe being a developer exclusively is the best way to go, because then, you just need to make games for the audience that will give you profit, rather than become the evil that is a publisher.