E3 2016 has come and gone, and as Nintendo warned us, there was nary a sign of the Nintendo NX. The new console launches in March 2017 with Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild as its flagship launch title, which means the launch really isn’t that far off. And Nintendo is going to announce the new console sooner rather than later, especially since nothing else terribly juicy is coming out this holiday season. So when’s it actually going to happen?

When Will Nintendo Announce The Nintendo NX?

Nintendo was wise not to announce the Nintendo NX at E3. There’s too much other stuff going on, including the revelation of such direct competitors as Project Scorpio. The Nintendo NX wouldn’t have gotten buried, but it wouldn’t have had our full attention either. There’s been talk that Nintendo will reveal the Nintendo NX at the Tokyo Game Show, taking place from Sept. 15 to Sept. 18, but you shouldn’t assume that’s a sure thing either. After all, the same problem applies—lots of other gaming news will come out of Tokyo (including the PS4 Neo), and Nintendo wouldn’t be able to fully own the narrative. The best alternative is hosting its own major press event, with much fanfare, in the way that Sony and Microsoft did to announce its last consoles.

Whatever ends up happening, there’s a lot riding on the announcement. Skepticism about the Nintendo NX is riding high, especially after the reveals of Project Scorpio and PlayStation NEO. Nintendo needs to counteract those arguments and prove that its next console has something unique and truly exciting to offer—whether that’s a hardware innovation or just a strong launch lineup. Nintendo needs to get out ahead of the story, because the public won’t immediately leap to the defense of the Nintendo NX unless it’s truly revolutionary.

But a well-handled announcement, either at Tokyo or on its own later this summer or early this fall, can go a long way towards assuaging concerns. If Nintendo hits up that stage, reveals a new console with mediocre graphics but a unique hardware concept and a strong third-party and first-party launch lineup, more than just Zelda… if Nintendo can convince us that third-party support will be an enduring feature of the Nintendo NX… it can still win this next generation. The higher-powered consoles aren’t going to have exclusive games anyway, so Nintendo can still beat them—if it really owns this launch.