Let’s begin with the excellent news: Change 2 has turn into the second fastest-selling console in US historical past, after simply 12 months on sale. It shifted a whopping 5.9m items, putting it solely behind Nintendo’s personal Recreation Boy Advance – which offered 6.5m items within the 12 months after it arrived, 25 years in the past.
These numbers come from data-tracking firm Circana’s Might 2026 report, which additionally declared Change 2 to be Might’s best-selling console within the US, forward of PlayStation 5. It is also the first cause why year-on-year {hardware} spend has risen by greater than a 3rd. In any other case, the information is dire.
Onto the dangerous information, then. PlayStation 5 gross sales had been down 58 % year-on-year “pushed by current worth will increase”, and fell to their lowest Might whole since 2000. In the meantime, Xbox gross sales fell solely 12 %, which does not sound dangerous, however the (undisclosed) variety of gross sales was “the bottom ever recorded for a Might month [for Xbox hardware]”, which definitely does.
Sadly, it appears these numbers are unlikely to extend any time quickly as the value of consoles retains going up. Simply yesterday, Microsoft raised the value of Xboxes once more and by a not-inconsiderable quantity. Nintendo can be elevating the value of Change 2 later this yr and Sony elevated the value of PlayStation in March.
Circana’s report additionally mentioned the typical worth paid for a brand new unit of online game {hardware} rose to $502 USD in Might 2026, whereas it was $440 final yr. PS5 pricing particularly rose 33 % to $672, and Xbox Collection X/S pricing climbed 22 % to $524. And this in a world the place the elevated value of residing is squeezing away no matter spare revenue folks have.
Maybe extra worryingly, the predominant cause for the value will increase – the part scarcity attributable to insatiable AI datacentre demand – reveals no signal of abating. Microsoft yesterday mentioned it expects “one other doubling” in part pricing by autumn 2027, which presumably means one factor: extra worth hikes. Or maybe exorbitantly priced next-generation machines, if any firm is daring sufficient to introduce them on this financial state of affairs.
Have a look at Valve’s Steam Machine: its console-like efficiency at a base worth of $1000 has tainted its arrival. Even Valve admitted the Steam Machine worth was “considerably” greater than it imagined it might be when designing it. We’re residing in unprecedented occasions; by no means earlier than in a console technology have costs elevated like this after launch.
The query is whether or not Grand Theft Auto 6 has the pulling energy to reivigorate the console market when it arrives nineteenth November. One retailer has already warned that there is probably not sufficient console inventory to fulfill GTA 6 demand this Christmas or vacation season.
