Adam Tyner

NX will be released worldwide in March 2017. The word is it will not be shown at E3. NX is still only its codename.

The only playable Wii U game at E3 will be Legend of Zelda, which has been delayed yet again, this time to 2017. Nintendo confirmed on Twitter that it will be an NX release as well as hitting the Wii U. They haven't specified if it's a launch title or not. They cited quality concerns as the reason for the delay.

The next smartphone apps have been announced as Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem. Nintendo says that these are games rather than what we saw with Miitomo. This isn't necessarily dire news , although these aren't the sort of titles a bunch of folks were hoping for (even if they do both make a lot of sense to me). These will be out in the Fall, so that's a pretty expansive gap of nothing for Nintendo on mobile.

Sales of 3DS hardware/software missed Nintendo's initial target but hit their revised targets. The Wii U failed to meet the lowered, revised targets. Nintendo is estimating just 800,000 sales of Wii U consoles worldwide between now and March 2017. The expectations of such poor sales presumably mean few, if any, compelling games for it on the horizon. I wonder if Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE, Paper Mario, and that Mario/Sonic Olympics game are it for 2016? Oh well. At least there's Planet Robobot for the 3DS, which I am absolutely excited about.

Their net income dropped a hair over 60% (!) year over year, although they are still in the black.

fumanstan

If the NX is going to be out in March of next year, i'm a little surprised they won't have some showing at E3 for it to build a little hype.

Quack

I just recently started collecting for the Wii U, figured it won't have that large of a library to collect for when all is said and done.

Noonan

Is that all confirmed info? If so, I was dead on with Zelda ending up on NX, just like TP on Wii.

Adam Tyner

Yes. Nintendo's big Q4/FY2016 announcements were this morning (well, today in Tokyo; early AM this morning for us). All this news came out of Nintendo telling investors what to expect for this upcoming financial year.

Everyone was dead on about that.

mhg83

What's the point of having E3 anymore in this day and age?

RichC2

To announce games and get good press. Not sure what he point of Nintendo attending E3 anymore is if they're going to keep ev erything hidden, though.

mewmartigan

yeah, nintendo uses their own "nintendo direct" streams to announce most stuff now.

Groucho

Nintendo is about to go the way of Sega.

Noonan

I've been dreaming of that for years! Give me a Nintendo developed Zelda on PS4.5 please.

Michael Corvin

Why? It would still look like it belonged on a Gamecube.

Adam Tyner

I like Nintendo games, so I sure hope not.

Michael Corvin

That would be a wise decision. Nintendo hasn't made a lot of those since the launch of the original Wii.

fumanstan

The only benefit is that it assures all gaming press are at one location for any big news... but other then that, with everything online and streamed and companies hosting their own events, it's really not as relevant anymore as it was a decade ago.

Noonan

But I wouldn't have to wave my hands around like a fool to play it.

mattysemo247

The Wii was a wise decision? I'll admit, it sold a shit load of consoles, but the motion controls sucked and most of the games were garbage. If anything, I would say the Wii is what killed their faith with the gaming community.

orangecrush

The Wii was one of, if not the most, successful consoles of all time. It made Nintendo all sorts of money. It was an out there decision that hit the jackpot.

mattysemo247

Yeah, I get that. But it also changed how most gamers feel about Nintendo. Anything they do from here on out is going to be met with skepticism. It also doesn't help that they seem to be stuck in the past with functionality and technology. So their success with one product line might have them going the way of Sega sooner rather than later. They can't ride on the success of the Wii forever.

cleaver

How do you feel about Nintendo systems?

Adam Tyner

Mixed, but I think having their own platform to support has significant upsides that'd vanish if Nintendo were to go third-party. Nintendo's been rather conservative as of late, but if they were third-party, it'd basically be all Mario/Smash/Kart/Party/Zelda, all the time. I bet you'd see fewer off-the-wall experiments or "what, what?!" releases like their funding of Bayonetta 2.

orangecrush

How long can they ride the success of the 3ds? I think the people who are seriously comparing them to Sega don't have any idea about the relative financial health of both companies. Sega had a few back to back flops and they were losing money left and right. Nintendo is still making money and they have tons of money in the bank. It would take a few more WiiU level flops (and the next handheld to be a giant flop) for Nintendo to get out of the hardware business. I'm no great fan of the WiiU's controller, but I can completely see what Nintendo was thinking when they made it. Personally, I think gamers are much better off when you have a major player pushing the boundaries of traditional hardware design.

slop101

I really do hope Nintendo ends their console days (maybe keep making handhelds), and starts making games for the other consoles.

Oh, and...

Michael Corvin

This...

You can hate the Wii all you want but it sold a metric ton of consoles and allowed Nintendo to fill a Scrooge McDuck money bin.

Where they went wrong was not getting an HD system into development shortly after launch and the system they bring to the table is barely comparable to then 7 year old consoles (360 & PS3) when next gen was right around the corner. The WiiU was outdated 12 months after launch.

The boasting about NX being more powerful than PS4 makes me laugh as well. By the time NX launches the PS4 will be 3.5 years old... the NX should be more powerful.

Sonny Corinthos

Does anyone think Nintendo releasing their next system in March 2017 is because they didn't want to go head to head with the new, upgraded consoles by Sony and Microsoft in the fall?

Adam Tyner

I'm sure having the post-holiday period to themselves (at least as far as product launches go) doesn't hurt.

...but the 3DS stumbled out of the gate because of price and a lack of compelling software, and a meager release slate was among the 187,000,000 reasons the Wii U was practically D.O.A. I can buy Nintendo's excuse that a few-months-later-than-expected launch is to make sure it launches with the right software. I'm sure it's not the only reason, but I bet it's a big (if not THE big) one.