The reason that this is happening is because they think that Wii U flopped due to sending the wrong message from the start, ant they feel that, ultimately, a lackluster or incomplete reveal will hurt them more than this.
Unfortunately, the real mistake was talking about it last year. They were screwed from the second that happened. Expectations are too high again due to too much time allowed for speculation, so it's going to be disappointment. There's nothing they can do to prevent that at this point, other than exceeding general expectations. Sony and MS have raised/will raise those expectations with their new hardware, though, so unless Nintendo planned ahead to compete with those there's nothing they can do to make the reveal perfect.
However, none of those mistakes are really affected by E3 itself other than the fact that the existence of E3 has hurt them.
No, that can't be the only reason. It's like I was saying before; they've had a long time to get the messaging down, and if the delay itself was due to those AMD mix-up rumors, that doesn't actually affect software or the messaging whatsoever.
I agree insofar as that the rumors got started up too soon, but part of the reason that happened was b/c the Wii U itself was having its worst year (in sales) in 2015. That's completely aside from NX, but it forced people to start looking at Nintendo's future because the present certainly isn't pleasant w/ dismal Wii U sales and 3DS dropping off steadily. If anything Nintendo should've been ready for people to start digging into NX earlier than usual because of that.
Even without the presence of E3, just waiting until September/October or whatever for their own event wouldn't have the impact others think it will have. Sony and Microsoft would just hold their own events in lieu of it either around that time or a bit closer to the Fall themselves, or just use Gamescon or whatever other event. Same with 3rd parties. So it's not like the absence of E3 suddenly creates this vacuum for Nintendo to do their own thing with no competition from others for attention.
In fact, no E3 arguably makes things
worst for them by virtue they have more to push out there than the others; this is a whole new console that has to communicate itself perfectly AND get the games out there too, and that'd be better served over a longer period of time than a small crunch period before release. Which is why I'm still of the opinion skipping E3 for any NX-related stuff is just a big mistake; it's one
less event/opportunity to get word out there, and condenses all of their time to get the message out there into a smaller time period, which means they actually
increase the risk for confusion among everybody.
Just look at it this way: if they skip E3 (and realistically, skip Gamescon; what difference would a month or two make?), and hold an event closer to September or October, people are still going to focus more on PS4K, PSVR, and XBO-2 simply because at least two of those would actually be coming out around that same time (and, yes, I think people people are underestimating the impact PS4K will have. Especially if they have software that shows off its potential that'll be there Day 1). Then for the holidays people'll be more focused on what they can play right then and now vs. what may come out in March. Which then leaves Nintendo with, what, 3 months of solid uncontested time to hype up it's release? Isn't that pushing it?
I was starting to get excited to see what they had for e3 but this isn't a big deal. e3 is so overrated in my perspective. it's good for giving b-tier games an instant 100k viewers. those don't even translate well into sales. Nintendo can make a major announcement any day of the week and have it go viral.
Going viral isn't the same thing as sustained hype. It's pretty easy to go viral actually; sustaining that attention is the hard part. A console needs proper time to build out its hype in waves, and the PS4 did that perfectly. We actually got substance regarding PS4 quite earlier than that Feb reveal too, as a good chunk of the rumors turned out to be true.
Which is another thing about the NX speculation that's a downer; we still don't know anything of substance yet. Not even one little iota. At some point you just get burned out on speculation about rumors you know aren't true. It's almost like fan-fiction.
Pretty much the logical/sensible conclusion that most logical/sensible folk have come to. But sometimes it's like pissing into the wind in here as i see the same old "lol Nintendo fucked up" or "dooooomed" posts even this late in the thread.
They didn't stumble into April and think "...oh fuck we aren't ready to show it at e3....there's no games ready! Ummmmm, delay it till, like, 2017 or some shit. Phew that was close". As hard is it might be to believe for some, Nintendo are an actual company with actual board members making real long term decisions based on vast experience and actual business acumen.
Okay, so how have they not fucked this up? How do they not have games ready to show when they should have been in development for a good while already? The delay for the system itself isn't even the big issue anymore, it's how they're handling the messaging and building genuine hype for the product.
Whatever logic the suits are using, is good for some things, and bad for others. And at this point, this "bunker mode/hermit seclusion" deal regarding NX, in a year where the Wii U is pretty much a ghost and 3DS will be even less in yearly sales compared to last, isn't doing the NX any favors.
Thems the facts.