Nintendo will release its next console in March 2017

Consoles tend to last six to eight years before their successor is released, so the fact that the Wii U will be replaced in just four years should tell you how much of a failure it is. Numerous reports have claimed that Nintendo wants to move past the Wii U debacle as quickly as possible, and the company more or less confirmed these reports earlier this week when it announced that the console’s successor, known as the Nintendo NX, will be released in March 2017. Also, the new Legend of Zelda game that fans have been waiting for since 2011 has been delayed into 2017, and will be released on both the Wii U and the Nintendo NX.

Nintendo has revealed the long-awaited release date of the Nintendo NX console, its follow-up to the Wii U. During its Japanese financial results briefing, the company announced that its successor to the Wii U will arrive in March 2017. Nintendo also clarified that the highly-anticipated Legend of Zelda game won’t be released in 2016. Instead, it will arrive on Wii U and NX in 2017 – just like Twilight Princess did on the Wii and GameCube. Nintendo has had a hard time keeping pace with both Microsoft and Sony this generation. While the Wii was a resounding success comparable to the monumental sales of Nintendo’s handheld business, the Wii U will go down as one of the company’s most unsuccessful consoles – mentioned in the same breath as the Sega Dreamcast by some. Still, while the Dreamcast killed off Sega as a hardware manufacturer, Nintendo has plenty of cash in reserve and is planning on getting straight back on the horse with the Nintendo NX. It’s anyone’s guess what NX officially stands for – with Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima joking that perhaps the late president Satoru Iwata “had meant to tell me and then never got the chance”.