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Console market craters as Xbox sales crash 33% to the lowest since launch 25 years ago, PS5 sales drop 25% — steep price hikes push Series X to $800 and PS5 Pro to $900 Are consoles too expensive right now? Video game console sales in the U.S. have cratered, with both the PS5 and Xbox seeing a massive drop in YTD sales through the end of August compared with last year. Mat Piscatella, the video game industry advisor at research firm Circana, shared the numbers on his Bluesky account — PlayStation 5 sales have dropped by 25%, putting it at its lowest point since 2013, when gamers held off buying PlayStation consoles in anticipation of the arrival of the PS4, while Xbox’s retail figures have cratered by 33% YTD, putting its sales numbers at an all-time low since its launch almost 25 years ago. From Circana's US Retail Tracking Service: For 2026 YTD ending August, Xbox hardware unit sales are down 33% versus a year ago in the US, while PlayStation hardware units are 25% lower. Xbox YTD US hardware unit sales are at an all-time low, while PlayStation is at lowest point since 2013. — @matpiscatella.bsky.social (@matpiscatella.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-10-11T15:51:03.015Z Piscatella said price sensitivity is becoming a real problem among gamers, especially as the chip shortage has pushed console manufacturers to raise prices. Microsoft has raised the price of the Xbox three times in the past two years, with the 512GB versions jumping by $100 and 1TB models becoming $150 more expensive. Worse, the company has killed off the 2TB model. This brought the Xbox Series S to $499.99 (512GB) and $599.99 (1TB), while the Xbox Series X now costs $749.99 for the Digital Edition, and the disc version costs $50 more at $799.99. PlayStation fans haven’t escaped these price hikes, as Sony raised prices for that console by $100 to $150. The base Digital Edition PS5 now costs $599.99, while the version with an optical drive is priced at $649.99. If you want the PS5 Pro, you’ll have to shell out $899.99, while those who want to stream games from their console via the PlayStation Portal must now pay $249.99 — $50 higher than its $199.99 launch price. Even used consoles didn't escape inflation, with Sony bumping the price of refurbished PS5 Slim consoles by $100, bringing them to $399. Despite the higher prices, the PS5 Pro remains in short supply, which is why used prices have now reached the stratosphere. Refurbished PS5 Pros now cost $1,399 at GameStop, almost $500 more than the MSRP of a new one (if you can find one in stock at that price). While this price might feel egregious, it’s about $100 less than the prices of new units we found at Best Buy and Walmart, and sealed units on online marketplaces sell for about $100 less than this. AI chip shortage-driven price hikes, along with rising living costs, have made console purchases less of a priority for many families, driving this massive downturn in retail sales. The arrival of the much-anticipated GTA VI in November, along with the upcoming holiday season, will hopefully help consoles bounce back. Still, Piscatella says the U.S. hardware market has never been more precarious since the early 1980s. Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds. Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. He’s been writing with several tech publications since 2021, where he’s been interested in tech hardware and consumer electronics. - ezst036 Price increases. And they have more increases to implement in the future. Vindicates the Steam Machine's price. Reply - emike09 The AI scarcity writings on the wall + upcoming GTA VI release made it pretty clear that there would be crazy inflation on consoles. We knew it was coming.Reply - alrighty_then I guess if you could have foreseen the price hikes years back you could have made a lot of smart purchases and actually sold tech for more than you bought it - a rare thing indeed.Reply - hotaru251 next gen consoels to sell well (outside scalpers but even then might not be able to sell em much more than market) they may need to return to selling hardware at a loss and making it up on games and online sub liek they did in the past. Gaming is a hobby and when everything else is costing mroe expensive hobbies are the first thing to get cut out. Reply - ezst036 hotaru251 said:they may need to return to selling hardware at a loss They are already selling consoles at a loss and now considering the widespread spyware situation they're further and further "monetizing" their users so that they can make the loss gap a little big bigger. The current Playstation 5 Disc are looking like currently $649 per console. That is not the true price. That's subsidized at a loss. That price is faker than a $37 dollar bill. Reply - hotaru251 ezst036 said:They are already selling consoles at a lossSony hasnt sold a ocnsole at a loss since PS3. PS4 and 5 were all sold at profit. XB has still (afaik) sold at a loss still. Reply - ezst036 hotaru251 said:Sony hasnt sold a ocnsole at a loss since PS3. PS4 and 5 were all sold at profit. XB has still (afaik) sold at a loss still.I did some further research. I was not correct, PS5 is no longer subsidized today. I thought it was with the impending spyware and monetization plotting and scheming. However yes, Sony has sold a console since PS3 which was subsidized. It was the PlayStation 5. https://www.pcmag.com/news/sony-says-499-ps5-no-longer-sells-at-a-loss Sony's chief financial officer, Hiroki Totoki, has this week confirmed that the company's $499 PS5 console is no longer selling at a loss. Totoki might have been a person in a position to know about it, when the PS5 was in fact sold at a loss. I think you're right about Xbox, that is probably the one I was thinking of which is still absorbing costs. Reply
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