It can be, but Nintendo has to convince a cynical market about its ability to support a home console for a decent length of time. And they need to secure some key 3rd party games with same day releases. If they can get R* to put GTA 6 on NX (because porting costs will be negligible, so why not?) and they can secure long term commitment to the platform for Fifa, CoD, Battlefield, AC etc, then that can help a lot. Like it or not the annual 3rd party franchise market is a sizeable chunk of the gamer market, and if you don't have them then you will always be limited to a minor share of the gamer pool.
Nintendo had the 2nd (is it 2nd yet) best selling home console of all time, and yet faile dto support it substantially beyond about 4 years. Contrast that with Sony's support for PS2 and the heavily handicapped in the early years PS3. Gamers know they can rely on Sony to get many good years of gaming out of their console purchase. Again, if you want to convince people to commit to NX you have to convince them that they will be getting new games for it for a longer timeframe than just 3 or 4 years.
They have made a good start with new IP with Splatoon, to some extent. It's a fun new IP, but it sits very musch within Nintendo's comfort zone and appeals mostly to the people who are already half way (or more) committed Nintendo.
I don't think they will make the mistake of releasing an expensive (for Nintendo) console, nor will they make it a loss leader. So I expect them to be making profit from day 1.
“The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.” - Bertrand Russell
"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace."
Jimi Hendrix
