Trip Hawkins, founder of Electronic Arts and a veteran of the gaming industry, has made bold predictions about the future of Nintendo and the gaming market as a whole. In a recent blog post, he stated that Nintendo’s upcoming Switch 2 is poised to sell more than 100 million units , following in the footsteps of its predecessor and becoming the fifth Nintendo console to reach this milestone — after the Game Boy, DS, Wii, and original Switch.

Hawkins believes that the new console will strengthen Nintendo’s dominance in the family-friendly gaming segment , repeating the success formula of the original Switch, which has sold over 150 million units worldwide. According to his projections, Nintendo could have up to 8 million units ready at launch, growing to 20 million within the first year . Although some analysts remain skeptical about whether the Switch 2 can truly match the commercial performance of its predecessor, Hawkins remains confident.

He also argues that Sony and Microsoft should avoid competing directly with Nintendo in the portable console space , pointing out that Nintendo maintains an unshakable hold on the market thanks to its exclusive software and appeal to younger audiences . Despite rumors suggesting both companies are exploring their own portable devices — Microsoft reportedly working on a Windows-based handheld and Sony on a portable PS5 device — Hawkins doubts they’ll find significant success without a compelling game library tailored to that form factor.

Perhaps most strikingly, Hawkins predicts that the era of traditional consoles is coming to an end . He sees the future of gaming shifting toward cloud streaming services and powerful mobile processors , which will ultimately make dedicated gaming hardware obsolete. As technology evolves, he argues, players will increasingly turn to flexible, accessible platforms rather than investing in expensive physical consoles.

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