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For all those asking why they didnt show at E3, I've got another theory:
Its simply not ready yet.
Here is what I believe could have happened:

  • End of 2012: Wii U is released. Sales are mediocre at best, but no one is actually worried. They still have a whole year.
  • Beginning to mid 2013(?): First concepts for the next home console are made, but progress is slow. With the Wii U just out there is no need to hurry.
  • End of 2013: Xbox One and PS4 are released, the latter is a huge success quickly surpassing the Wii U and leaving its competition in the dust, despite possible problems in form of the blue light of death and the playroom scandal.
  • Mid 2014: Crisis at Big N: Despite several well received high profile games like Pikmin 3, Mario 3D World and Mario Kart 8, not to mention a price drop, new bundles, special offers, and a incredibly well received E3 showing the Wii U is hardly gaining any steam. The possible need to release the next console much earlier is considered for the first time.
  • End 2014: Crisis part 2: Despite more great games and other trys to winning over consumer, its become obvious that the Wii U has no chance against the competition. Project NX is accelerated and revised to make sure the mistakes of the Wii U will not be repeated, simultaniously other Buisness opporturnities are sought after to stabilize Nintendo (Mobile, Movies, Theme Parks, etc...)
  • Beginning of 2015: While announcing there partnership with DeNA Nintendo also announces work on NX, at that point probably just past final prototyping.

Let's crunch some Numbers:
In general a console needs at least 4-5 years from concept to product, often longer! Even in the best scenario NX has been in development for just a bit longer than 3 years, likely with several radical revisions and changes along the way. While the schedule was likely revised for the shorter timeframe as well, there are still the games. A good, solid AAA game takes at least 3 years. And we are talking about Nintendo AND new hardware here!
Yes, they probably took some Wii U games and started developing them for NX instead, but in the same time they still needed to make games for Wii U, 3DS and now mobile too, all the while keeping NX as secret as possible.
In case you havent noticed: Thats a ton of work to do in three short years!
Its very likely that there is still lots to do!

All this is even more interesting if you consider one of the Wii U's biggest failures: Its catastrophic first impression upon consumers.
"What is this? Another Wii Add ON? Some HD Handheld? A Nintendo tablet?"
Nintendo is aware of how badly they screwed up back then.

The obvious lesson is to make sure that this time, the first impression is a good one, like the PS4 did it back in 2013!

So the reason why we didnt see NX at E3 was likely that Nintendo still isnt confident that it will deliver a worthwhile first impression, and wasnt ready to risk a repitition of Wii U @ E3 2012.



The new guy.

Sorry for possible mistakes, not a native speaker!