I doubt it... If anything, they will start game development in late 2015 for a new handheld, announce the 4ds on 2016 and release it in 2017 at the latest... For the console, they will probably start game development in 2016, announce it on e3 2017 and either release it in 2017 or 2018 at the latest depending on the sitution... The wiiU is gonna make it 5 years you crazy unbelievers

I think the handheld and the console will come out at the same time. (holiday 2016) They will not only be sold individually, but they will also be sold as a bundle. Separately they will be sold at a profit, but the bundle will be sold at a slight loss to encourage sales.

Iwata said approximately 2 years. I'm going with that.

It makes sense anyway, you guys have no sense of financials. Nintendo cannot possibly return to profit relying on a dead Wii U that will have already most of Nintendo's big franchises on it, and a 3DS that is declining every year and losing kids to iOS/Android devices like there's no tomorrow.

They MUST make a big profit in FY17 otherwise their goose, or at least Iwata's goose is cooked.

There's no way 3DS and Wii U can provide that for them. DS had a lifespan of just a shade over 6 years, the idea that the 3DS deserves the same lifespan when its selling no where close to that and dragging Nintendo's handheld sales to the lowest point since before the Game Boy Color launched is absurd.

3DS will be lucky to get 5 years, Wii U does not deserve even that. I'm sorry but that's the cold hard truth, Iwata's time frame that he has quoted in the financial Q&A is dead on. Right around spring 2016 is where they will absolutely need a new profit driving platform in addition to the QoL thing (who knows if that will even take off). 

Nintendo still expect 3DS to sell 12M for 2014 fiscal year.
After that we will have figurines with new games for them. 3DS must be in a good form.
Nintendo talked also in make 3DS compatible with unity for lots of indies ports.
Also we'll have to wait the 6th gen of pokemon end. It started in 2013, and we have to wait at least pokemon Z sometime in 2015 or 2016.
So i think 3DS has much more to show, and his sucessor wont come in 2016.

What i remember from what iwata said, the profit from 2017 would be because of QoL. Launched in 2015 it would take a little time to profit.
Also,this profit couldnt be from wii U or 3DS sucessor. Usually dont profit a lot in the fisrt year. The software sales are the worst compared to following years.

Well... interesting...

IF it is true and the fusion system is like iOS/Android systems, then that means digital games on 3DS/WiiU/VC/etc will work on said system simply by logging in with your NNID.

That means day one it already has a very large library. Personally, I think we'll see this, this gen with VC titles once the final part of the NNID system is upgraded. Maybe with this year's update.

Then all they need is a couple 1st party launch titles (two studios at a min) as well as whatever 3rd parties can support for new multiplatform content.

So I don't think their fusion concept will harm 3ds/wiiu support at this time. At least not like it did for ds/wii in 2009/2010.

Backwards compatibility will probably be heavily contigent on the chipset. Like it's fine to want an iPhone/iPad setup, but that doesn't mean all Mac games work on iPhone/iPad ... completely different chipsets with different OS'. Though I think it would be very, very smart if they used an ARM core that could make it easy to port (up-port to HD?) the entire DS/3DS libraries. That would give the machine a lot of games to play from day 1. 

Then they could also port over perhaps some of the more major Wii U games (Mario Kart 8, Smash, etc.) on a case by case basis too. 

That wouldn't be bad. 

12 million would represent the lowest Nintendo handheld sales since 1997, maybe even prior to that. And honestly, Nintendo may have a ton of trouble hitting that 12 million ... look at their sales in Japan, they are down YoY by 50% week after week. In the US NPD numbers also show a year over year decline and their game lineup this year simply isn't as strong as last year. 

Wouldn't be surprised at all if they actually only sell 10-11 million. 

They forecast 18 milion 3DS for last year, then cut that to 13 million, but missed even that, settling for 12.2 mill or so. 

And about the fusion idea, it will be more powerfull than wii U?
i dont think it will be possible to have a handheld at least with wii U power in 2016 for a competitive price. we wont have the tecnology in time.
And it have to be ready to develop now in 2014.(if the development starts now, like you are proposing).

And releasing a home console weaker than wii U would be terrible.

So, i dont think the home and handheld consoles will have the same power and run same software, at least not at 2016.

also, iwata said that we wont have the sucessors until consumers are satisfied with wii U and 3DS. people who bought wii U deserve 5 years. Iwata is worried about consumes satisfaction, not if wii U deserves 5 years or not.

i agree. i expect something arround 10M.

But nintendo can keep going with it.

they dont need to sell like DS to profit.