The Q1 launch is one of the smartest moves Nintendo could have done, Bright said. Instead of pushing units out during the heaviest time of the year (in Q4), this allows them to build a base. So by holiday, we can focus on games. There will be millions of people who will be hungry for content, creating a richer development cycle for game publishers who will have an install base to support titles. This also will take some of the brunt off of Christmas and enable Switch to be better stocked at stores.
All this basically reinforces the soft launch theory because this is what people have been pointing out why Nintendo would do this, why 3rd parties would be on board with this strategy, and why a retailer like Gamestop would actually be happy with a Q1 launch over a Holiday launch, at least for a console like the Switch.
No retailer wants to deal with the supply constraints of launch, especially worldwide launches, during the holidays and would much rather have a steady supply of widely available hardware they can actually sell, as well a people picking up more games during that period (people who own the console and those who are just now picking it up) rather than that rush of games all at once while a sizable portion of those launch games will just sit on the shelves while people buy the most hyped AAA titles only.
We'll see how it works out for Nintendo, but if this is successful, it wouldn't be surprising for Microsoft and Sony to follow suit to some degree. We've seen how the film industry used to think only certain seasons could be successful for blockbuster films (or any films for that matter) but now we are getting releases outside of the summer window and the winter/spring break able to have great success.
Isn't summer thought of as a good time for game sales (before kids go back to school) but we don't a ton of big releases before summer or hardware launches? I mean, lots of people pointed to Pokemon Go's huge success due to it being released in the summer. Nintendo putting out the console with Zelda then having ARMS, MK8D, and Splatoon 2 going into the summer when people will be out playing with their friends (with online while it's still free over the summer) seems like a winning strategy.