I think Nintendo is actively trying to cut down on announcing things too early these days.
I mean two years into the SNES lifecycle they had already announced its successor (Project: Reality, aka the N64).
They wouldn't do that today.
Partly because of Apple I think, today it's much more common to have a product announcement and then have the product on sale shortly thereafter. Having people wait 2-3 years doesn't fly anymore like it did in the 90s/early 2000s.
No one wants to be shown an iPhone 7 and then be told "now wait two years for this!". That's ridiculous in today's electronics market.
If they have been actively hoarding games for NX, like a real Animal Crossing and the next 3D Mario (perhaps Zelda multiplat release too), then they very easily could launch in 2016. It's software that's almost always the hang up, not the hardware.
Hardware wise the N64 was ready to launch in 1995, the GameCube in 2000 ... they just didn't have games ready. But given how terribly the Wii U has done from almost day 1, they likely made the call to not (for example) give the Wii U a proper Animal Crossing or Metroid Prime game over a year+ ago.
