It will be a major test if his job is on the line.

He probably still has another 2 years on the job minimum even though his job rating with investors will probably take another big hit this June to sub 70% approval. 

If that Quality of Life thing flops, I think he will step down voluntarily then. I think he's betting his job on that gamble. 

Is there any indication on when QoL is supposed to be released?

They've said vaguely it will be released after April 1st 2015 (so it's for the fiscal year ending March 30th, 2016).

My guess is this is something primarily or initially targetted towards senior citizens. Nintendo dares not go after the young adult health audience, too much competetion, but the senior population in Japan in particular is huuuuuuge and has tremendous spending power. Also Miyamoto is getting to that age himself (soon will be 65+) so I can see him wanting to work on things for that audience. 

I suspect we are talking about an entirely new brand here too, the existing Nintendo name is too closely tied to kids and video games, and that doesn't really work for them in this different market. Probably better to start with a clean slate. 

We'll see how it plays out I guess. 

Then it´s gonna be a while before we see the results, and that means Iwata is probably remaining where he is for at least two more years, I think.

Ya June is an important month for Nintendo, especially Wii U. Mario Kart 8 releases on May 30 so June will show what type of affect it has on hardware sales also there is E3 that month which will show what Nintendo has in store for later in the year and even next year.

If Mario Kart gives a large hardware boost and E3 provides alot of hype for upcoming games than Wii U could see itself in a pretty decent spot but on the other hand if Mario Kart doesnt do much for hardware sales and instead sells primarily to current Wii U owners and E3 doesnt cause much hype than there is basically nothing else that can help Wii U in any major way.

Also we really have no clue what Nintendo has lined up for 3DS after May outside of Smash Bros so E3 is needed to show what they have plannned to keep 3DS sales strong. If they have some big games lined up than we can look at another solid year for 3DS but if they dont have much lined up outside of Smash Bros than we could be looking at a heavy decline in YOY sales.

I think Nintendo internally is already prepping for the Wii U to be a relative failure, they've gone through this before with the GameCube and are smart enough to know in this business very, very few consoles ever turn around after being on the market for 1 1/2 years already. In fact I don't think its ever happened before. 

Even the PS3 really had started to stabilize by this point in its life cycle ... it sold 280k for Feb. 2008 NPD for example, the equivalent point for the Wii U is still spinning its tires stuck at 82.5k for the equivalent month, even with a decent release (DKC) that month. 

Wii U will need Mario Kart just to sell *at* GameCube levels, it's well below right now. 

IMO internally at Nintendo right now they are fully focused on the QoL platform and the next Nintendo handheld platform, which likely will double as the architecture for their next home device too. They are just going to ride the Wii U out and hope to make some extra money off fat profit margined NFC plastic toys. 

Iwata is just buying time at this stage, if he can get out of that June meeting with minimal damage in his shareholders vote, it buys him the time to see the QoL thing and to oversee the launch of the next Nintendo portable/hybrid or whatever hardware. Those are going to be the next two pillars of Nintendo's business. 

Dang! This post upsets Iwata!