Nintendo makes a big deal out of the NX launch date by not making a big deal out of it

You’re not supposed to know that Nintendo’s next home console is the NX. You’re definitely not supposed to know that it will launch worldwide in March 2017. Nintendo’s not exactly keeping the NX a secret, but unless you’re a fan of digging through a company’s quarterly financial results, you wouldn’t know that the launch date was ignominiously plopped onto page 3 of this public filing.

For our dedicated video game platform business, Nintendo is currently developing a gaming platform codenamed “NX” with a brand-new concept. NX will be launched in March 2017 globally.

And that’s all there is to it. We have a name and a month. When asked about it directly, Nintendo declined to give more detail saying only that everything was still provisional. When Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima spoke to Time last year, he assured them that the company was “not building the next version of Wii or Wii U” but that leaves a lot to the imagination. Last month, some enterprising hoaxers made some convincing fakes of the supposed NX development controller that got some notice among fans, but no one outside of Nintendo really knows what the system will be. Oddly, it doesn’t seem like Nintendo cares whether or not you care. They’re not even planning on talking about the NX much at this year’s upcoming E3. They are instead focusing on the next The Legend of Zelda which will be playable at the convention.