Since the only way to obtain a WiiU gamepad is to take one from an existing system, this development will help revive old systems without taking from the limited WiiU gamepad market.
Skip to 2:28 if you just want the development info and not the context and history.
Perhaps, but Nintendo also seems happy to let people forget that the Wii U ever existed. Also, they seem to not care as much about non-piracy/CFW releated hardware mods- take the 3DS capture card as an example, AFAIK it was never targeted by Nintendo since it very clearly was not meant to facilitate piracy.