Xbox and PlayStation console sales in the United States have fallen to the lowest levels Circana has recorded, according to year-to-date figures through August posted by analyst Mat Piscatella. Xbox hardware units are down 33% from a year ago, the lowest in the platform’s history. PlayStation units are down 25%, the lowest since 2013. The average price paid for a new console reached an all-time high on both platforms, and Piscatella placed the US hardware market in its most precarious position “since the early 80s.” The rest of the games business has not fallen at anything like that rate.
The Hardware Numbers
Circana’s US retail tracking puts hardware spending at $2.5 billion through August, down 11% from the same stretch of 2025. The platform figures:
Xbox: units down 33% year over year, an all-time low. The average price paid for a new console was $529, up 26%.
PlayStation: units down 25%, the lowest since 2013. The average price paid was $597, up 20%.
The monthly figures show the same pattern. In August, hardware units fell 15% to 559,000, the weakest August since 2013, when 423,000 units sold. Hardware spending fell only 3% to $302 million because buyers paid more per console: the average price for new hardware hit a record $541, up from $476 in August 2025. Xbox units fell 31%, its lowest August since 2020. PlayStation units fell 11%, its lowest August since 2013. Nintendo units fell 15%.
Dollar sales split by platform. Switch 2 led the market in both units and dollars for the month and the year to date. PS5 ranked second, with dollar sales up 17% on units down 11%. Xbox Series dollar sales fell 13%.
July was worse. Hardware spending fell 29% to $282 million, the lowest July since 2020, and units dropped 39% while the average selling price rose 16% to $542. Piscatella noted that year-over-year comparisons remain skewed by the record Switch 2 launch in June 2025. Circana’s September report is due October 22.
Prices Climb Again
Piscatella tied the slump to price. “Both prices are at all-time US highs. Price sensitivity is becoming a real problem,” he wrote. The reported cause is a shortage of memory and storage chips driven by AI data center demand.
Sony raised PS5 prices on April 2. The standard PS5 went to $649.99 and the Digital Edition to $599.99. The PS5 Pro went to $899.99, up from $749.99 after Sony’s August 2025 increase and $699.99 at its 2024 launch. The original PS5 launched at $499.99.
Microsoft followed on August 1, less than a year after its October 2025 increase. The Series S 512GB went from $399.99 to $499.99, the Series X Digital to $749.99 and the Series X to $799.99. The Series X launched at $499.99 and the Series S at $299.99. Microsoft said “console storage and memory prices have increased by more than 2.5x” and expects another doubling by fall 2027. Nintendo raised the Switch 2 price on September 1, and early October listings show $499.99 against the $449.99 launch price.
The pricing has now reached the strategy room. On October 14, Microsoft surveys sent to Xbox Insider members who own multiple consoles came to light. The surveys asked how likely they would be to stay with or buy an Xbox if games became timed or fully exclusive, naming Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, DOOM, Diablo, Minecraft and Hideo Kojima’s PHYSINT. A final question covered every Xbox franchise except Call of Duty. Microsoft has made no public statement on the surveys.
The Wider Market
Hardware is the weakest part of the business, but it is a small part. Circana puts US content spending, which covers software, subscriptions and mobile, at $32.2 billion through August, down 2% from 2025. Hardware at $2.5 billion is about 7% of the two combined.
Inside content, the picture splits. Console content fell 7% in August and mobile fell 18%, the largest drag on the month. PC content rose 13% and subscriptions rose 3%. Spending on new physical software rose 5% for the year to $738 million, even as July’s new physical sales hit an all-time July low of $85 million. Accessories were one of the few growing segments in August, up 3% to $176 million. Total US spending in August fell 9% to $4.3 billion, after a 10% drop to $4.5 billion in July.
That sits below the forecast Circana made at the start of the year. It projected 2026 US spending would rise 3% to $62.8 billion, which would pass the all-time high of $61.7 billion set in 2021, after $60.7 billion in 2025. The forecast rested on Switch 2 and on Grand Theft Auto VI, which Circana said had the highest purchase intent in its tracking history. The release is November 19.
The global forecast leans on the same title. Newzoo projects 2026 worldwide revenue of $213.9 billion. It puts console at $46.9 billion, up 5.1%, PC at $45.9 billion, up 5.3%, and mobile at $121.1 billion, up 6.8%. Newzoo expects console game sales to grow 17.5%, the fastest of any business model, with GTA VI behind the number. Piscatella said the November release “will help ease at least some of these declines.”
Where the Gap Leaves Each Platform
The split shows who is exposed. Nintendo holds the top of the hardware chart with Switch 2 even after a price rise. Sony is selling fewer PS5 units at higher prices, and the dollar total is up. Microsoft has the steepest unit decline, the largest price increase and an internal debate about pulling its franchises off other platforms. Piscatella has also said Sony will stop producing physical software for new games starting in January 2028.
People are still spending on games, and most of that money does not pass through a console purchase. PC content grew 13% in August while console content fell 7%. A Circana consumer survey on tariff-driven price increases found 38% would buy fewer full-price games at launch, 34% would wait longer for sales, and 27% would spend more time on free-to-play games. Circana lists younger players moving toward PC and mobile as a risk to the console business.
The next data point arrives on October 22 with the September report. The one after that covers GTA VI, which launches on a $650 to $800 hardware market.
If the most anticipated game Circana has ever tracked cannot move consoles priced between $500 and $900, what does the console business look like in 2027?
Xbox series x best feature was its backwards compatibility with the OG Xbox, 360, and xbone. But even that isn't 100% . Maybe something like the ps5 jailbreak will happen for series X.
How many years have these consoles been out? It should be a no brainer that the console sales would taper off.
I gave up on the console market completely, my wife and I got a used Series S with trade ins for $249.99. It’s probably going to be our last console generation; we also own a Nintendo Switch Lite, nothing the Switch 2 is offering now warrants the purchase of that system in our opinion.