US Xbox and PlayStation sales fall to historic lows as console prices hit records
US sales of Xbox and PlayStation consoles have dropped to historic lows while the cost of a new machine has never been higher.
The year-to-date figures were shared by Circana analyst Mat Piscatella and reported by Eurogamer on 9 Oct 2026. Year-to-date means sales from the start of the calendar year to the latest count.
Xbox hardware unit sales in the US are down 33% versus a year ago on that basis. PlayStation hardware unit sales are down 25% over the same period.
For Xbox, that is a new all-time low. For PlayStation, it is the lowest point since 2013.
Money tells the other half. The average price paid for a new Xbox in 2026 year-to-date ending August was US$529, up 26% on a year ago. The average PlayStation sold for US$597, up 20% on last year. Both are all-time highs in the US.
Piscatella, who is Senior Director and Video Game Industry Advisor at Circana, put it bluntly on Bluesky: "The US hardware market has not been in a more precarious position since the early 80s." The post, the third in a thread on his account, added: "And pricing, of course."
The warning points to price as a central pressure on demand. It does not by itself explain the full drop, and Piscatella did not in the reported figures give a single cause for the fall in units.
This is not a sudden dip. Xbox console unit sales in the US reached an all-time low for the month of November last year, with dollar sales for Xbox Series consoles down 70% year on year, according to IGN's reporting of Circana data published on 18 Dec 2025.
Looking ahead, analyst firm S&P forecasts that 2.5 million Xbox Series units will be sold in 2026, with a rapid wind-down toward zero after 2026, as reported by GamesIndustry.biz on 13 July 2026. That forecast concerns shipments of the current Xbox Series hardware family.
What makes this stand out for anyone outside the trade is the split. Fewer people in the US are buying new consoles, and those who do are paying more than ever before.
