Nintendo will not offer Wii U GamePads at U.S. retail when the Wii U system releases. However, Nintendo of America product marketing manager Bill Trinen says that GamePads will be sold separately sometime down the line.
“The launch window is all going to be single-GamePad. The dual-GamePad functionality, we expect to start seeing that in games sometime next year,” said Trinen.”Our feeling is, we’re not going to sell another GamePad if you don’t have something to use it with. We’ll make that available as an additional accessory when there’s content to support it.”
Source: 1UP