The new Nintendo video game console, codename of NX, is set to replace the Wii U at some point, but the question is: when? A new report indicates that the announcement could come as soon as June 2016, with a release date sometime before the end of the year.

The report comes courtesy of Barron’s Asia, which credits Nomura Securities and its analyst Junko Yamamura. According to Yamamura, the NX should launch before the end of 2016, and Nomura Securities pegs the concept of the device for somewhere around March, with a reveal of the actual console in June. Given that E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, is held in June, that final prediction seems pretty safe.

That’s the good news, anyway. The bad news? Nomura also predicts that the NX will cut into sales of the Nintendo 3DS handheld and Wii U console more than previously theorized — making for an overall weaker forecast for Nintendo.

“We had previously thought that the NX launch would have only a limited impact on 3DS and Wii U sales as it is not being positioned as a successor to either console,” Barron’s Asia quotes Nomura Securities as stating, “but we have now altered our view because 3DS sales have been weakening a little recently, particularly in terms of software, as the machine enters its sixth year, and to factor in a harsher competitive climate and what happened to other existing consoles when new machines were launched in the past.”

That isn’t to say it’s outside the realm of possibility that things could improve for Nintendo. If, for example, the NX actually missed Nomura’s target window, that would completely change their predictions — though there’s no guarantee it wouldn’t be even worse without the help of a new console.

Via: ComingSoon.net