Gaming Hardware Sales Fall Off A Cliff, PlayStation Faring Much Better Than Xbox
Video games and their accompanying hardware have been a big part of mainstream entertainment for decades with billions of gamers worldwide partaking in the pastime. This segment is also not immune to the slings and arrows of fortune, and thus plummeting sales at certain times. To that end, video game hardware spending is down about 11% in 2025 thus far compared to 2024, according to Mat Piscatella, Executive Director and Video Game Industry Analyst at Circana (NPD).
This isn't necessarily about PC versus consoles, but there are a lot of trends that may account for some of this change. Subscription services did appear to have about a 9% growth according to Piscatella, but sales of mobile were also in the negative.
This isn't necessarily about PC versus consoles, but there are a lot of trends that may account for some of this change. Subscription services did appear to have about a 9% growth according to Piscatella, but sales of mobile were also in the negative.
Console sales have been an important topic of conversation, with Microsoft's Xbox and Sony's PlayStation 5 battling for living room supremacy. It is clear that Sony is in the lead, but the Xbox has different plans for its future. With popular Xbox exclusives such as Forza Horizon 5 coming to PlayStation, Microsoft wants to become a purveyor of content instead of just hardware.
Historically, the PlayStation 5 is about 7% ahead in sales within its first 52 months compared to the PlayStation 4. The Xbox Series is 19% behind sales of its previous Xbox One, a sizable margin. The more powerful PlayStation 5 Pro is the newest console to arrive, but at a more enthusiast level price point. Its sales likely don't add nearly as much to Sony's bottom line as its main PlayStation console which can be found often for cheaper prices than on launch.
As cloud gaming gains in popularity and strength in technical polish, it is possible we will see hardware sales further decline in the future. The reasoning is that cloud gaming services do not rely on the hardware capabilities to power its games, become a Netflix-like streaming service for game content.
On the PC side, gaming hardware has also been rocky in terms of sales. The latest graphics cards from NVIDIA and AMD appear to be doing well on the surface, but there is a low inventory (compared to rabid demand) for most of the GPUs. The AI sector has gobbled up a lot of those resources that would traditionally head over to the enthusiast PC gaming market, too.
Historically, the PlayStation 5 is about 7% ahead in sales within its first 52 months compared to the PlayStation 4. The Xbox Series is 19% behind sales of its previous Xbox One, a sizable margin. The more powerful PlayStation 5 Pro is the newest console to arrive, but at a more enthusiast level price point. Its sales likely don't add nearly as much to Sony's bottom line as its main PlayStation console which can be found often for cheaper prices than on launch.
As cloud gaming gains in popularity and strength in technical polish, it is possible we will see hardware sales further decline in the future. The reasoning is that cloud gaming services do not rely on the hardware capabilities to power its games, become a Netflix-like streaming service for game content.
On the PC side, gaming hardware has also been rocky in terms of sales. The latest graphics cards from NVIDIA and AMD appear to be doing well on the surface, but there is a low inventory (compared to rabid demand) for most of the GPUs. The AI sector has gobbled up a lot of those resources that would traditionally head over to the enthusiast PC gaming market, too.
