Game console sales in freefall, lowest since 1995

Sales of Microsoft's Xbox are down 70%, according to a new gaming industry report, with Sony's PlayStation 5 down 40%. Sales of Nintendo's Switch 2, released to much fanfare this year, are down 10% on sales of the well-aged Switch 1 from last November.

The industry in the U.S. saw declines across the board in hardware, accessories, and console spending for an overall drop of 4% year-over-year, at $5.9 billion in total spending. … the lowest hardware spending total for November since 2005's $455 million. Even worse, unit sales reached 1.6 million, which is the lowest November total since 1995's 1.4 million.

The disastrous results for Microsoft put hard new numbers on why its been reorienting the XBox branding toward PC and cross-platform gaming. Sony is unambigiously the winner when it comes to full-size systems, but it might be like winning the Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD war: the world is already moving on. Nintendo's Switch 2, posting solid sales figures, points the way, and the kid-friendly NEX Playground a the surprise hit.

With six months in the market, it remains the fastest-selling video game hardware in U.S. history. However, part of what was driving that was its availability to be bought during its launch window. It's been extremely rare to have such a successful new device not suffer supply constraints going into its first holiday sales period. Unit sales of Switch 2 were lower than those of Switch 1 during each console's first November, but the price points are also quite different. The average price paid for a new Nintendo Switch in November 2017 was $309 (which, if adjusted for inflation, is approximately $405 in November 2025 dollars), compared to the $486 for Switch 2 in November 2025. Perhaps it is a case of demand having been pulled forward earlier in the year because people could find them. Or perhaps the mass market is not as quickly adopting Switch 2 as it did Switch. Or perhaps consumers are looking elsewhere for holiday gifting as the prices continue to rise in video game hardware. Tough to say at the moment.

Trump tariffs, general economic gloom and broader problems in the game industry surely took their toll. Microsoft and Sony have released upgraded models and sought to escape traditional console marketing cycles, but perhaps the upgrades were mistimed or confused seasonal shoppers buying for kids.

IGN spoke to an expert behind the study, Circana senior director Mat Piscatella. He said it might get worse thanks to the RAM pricing crunch.

Retail spending had been holding up relatively well until now, despite the pressure from higher prices we've been seeing in the market. More affluent consumers have kept on spending so far, which has made up for some of the declines in spending from the less affluent portions of the market. Perhaps this is a sign that those higher prices are beginning to impact purchases of pricier items, like consoles. Perhaps not.

It's possibly December could do numbers, but no-one is eager to bet on it.

Alas, I left christmas shopping too late.

— Rob Beschizza (@beschizza.com) 2025-12-20T12:43:29.783Z