As a continuing global component crisis drives up console prices, gaming hardware sales are falling sharply. According to new U.S. retail data from Circana, Xbox hardware sales were down 33% year-to-date in August compared with the same period last year, while PlayStation sales dropped 25% over the same span.
In August alone, PlayStation unit sales fell 11% year over year, reaching their lowest August total since 2013. Xbox sales declined even more sharply, down 31%, marking its weakest August since 2020. Nintendo also took a hit, falling 15% from the previous year.
This is not the first time console sales have been reported as declining—Circana previously published similarly grim data for July.
All three major console manufacturers have raised hardware prices over the past year and a half. Microsoft’s Xbox Series X and S have seen multiple price increases, with the Xbox Series X now going for $799.99—$300 more than at launch. The base PS5 went from $499 to $549.99 in August 2025, before being bumped another $100 in April 2026. The Nintendo Switch 2 received a $50 increase this past September.
Why are console prices going up?
Because tech companies are building more AI data centers, RAM manufacturers like Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron have shifted much of their memory chip production from consumer-oriented RAM to a different type of memory (SRAM) used for these data centers. This has caused a massive shortage in hardware components used in consumer electronics like game consoles, which has driven up the price of these parts. Manufacturing consoles is now more expensive, and that cost is being passed on to consumers.
Circana data indicates that the average price paid for a new Xbox console through August 2026 was $529, up 26% from a year ago. The average PlayStation sold for $597, up 20%. Both of these prices are all-time U.S. highs, nearly six years after these systems launched.
While the impending release of Grand Theft Auto 6 will almost certainly boost game console sales in the short term, tech companies have said we shouldn’t expect hardware prices to come down anytime soon.
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