In its earnings report for the fiscal year that ended on Mar. 31, Nintendo casually announced it’ll be releasing its new video game console, known only by its code name “NX,” in March 2017 around the world.
The company remains largely mum on the new console, so details remain sparse, but an October report from The Wall Street Journal said the device will “likely include both a console and at least one mobile unit that could either be used in conjunction with the console or taken on the road for separate use.” Though no announcement had been made about the launch of the NX before this one, it was originally expected to hit in late 2016.
A March launch would make it an oddity for a home game system — none of the last two generations of game consoles (Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3 and 4, Wii and Wii U) were released outside the holiday season window. However, handheld game systems like the PlayStation Vita and Nintendo 3DS both were released in the first quarter of the years in which they launched. Nintendo president Tatsumi Kinimishi said that the company is skipping the holiday season to make sure the lineup of games the NX has at launch is worthwhile.
Though the NX will be absent from this summer’s E3 industry event in Los Angeles, Nintendo will be showing off a new Zelda game that’s slated for both the NX and the current Wii U.
When Japanese paper Nikkei asked Nintendo to describe the NX in some tangible way, Kinimishi declined, noting only that it represents a “new way of thinking.”