Saying that, they started putting F-zero content on stuff like mario kart's DLC, perhaps suggesting they're not bothering with the series and pushing it aside in favor of mario kart, which seems to have become a super kart bros. with characters that aren't in mario. It's hardly mario kart anymore.
How can you say that when 2 out of 3 DLC characters in the first pack (
titled Legend of Zelda × Mario Kart 8) are from the Mario universe (
Cat Peach and Tanooki Mario) with just 1 DLC character actually representing the Zelda series (
Link)? Just because there's literally only 1 F-Zero track, 1 F-Zero vehicle, and 1 Captain Falcon Mii Racing Suit as DLC accounts to nothing. Did you forget that Nintendo Land had an entire F-Zero minigame?
There are currently 33 available characters in the roster (
including current DLC), of which 31 are from Mario games. The last two (
Mii racer, Link) are not from Mario games. That's 31 out of 33, or 94%. So Mario Kart 8 features >90% characters from Mario games and you say it's hardly Mario Kart anymore?
Further, it's not like Nintendo hasn't acknowledged F-Zero:
"I certainly understand that people want a new F-Zero game," Miyamoto said. "I think where I struggle is that I don’t really have a good idea for what’s new that we could bring to F-Zero that would really turn it into a great game again. Certainly I can see how people looking at Mario Kart 8 could see, through the anti-gravity, a connection to F-Zero. But I don’t know, at this point, what direction we could go in with a new F-Zero."
Source:
http://uk.ign.com/articles/2013/06/20/dont-get-your-hopes-up-for-f-zero
It's likely they're gauging fan interest through these minigames and DLCs and Virtual Console releases of F-Zero content that they've been dropping here and there. I'm also fairly sure Nintendo wouldn't want to crush its future with third party developer Shin'en, who is currently working on an F-Zero-like game (
FAST Racing Neo) for Wii U. I'm waiting for that game first.