Xbox posts its worst U.S. May hardware unit sales; PS5 unit sales fall 58%

Xbox hardware recorded its worst May unit sales in the United States, while PlayStation had its weakest May unit sales since 2000, according to Circana data reported by Kotaku and shared on r/Games on June 26. The same report says the average price paid for new video game hardware reached $502 in May 2026, up 14% from $440 a year earlier.

The platform details are sharper than the headline. PlayStation 5's average price rose 33% year over year to $672, and Xbox Series hardware rose 22% to $524. Xbox Series dollar spending still increased 7% despite unit sales falling 12%, which means higher prices offset lower volume for the month. PlayStation moved in the opposite direction: spending fell 43% year over year and unit sales dropped 58%.

Nintendo is the contrast point. The same U.S. market update says Nintendo Switch 2 is the second-fastest-selling game hardware in tracked U.S. history after one year on the market, behind only Game Boy Advance. Another r/Games post citing Circana put Switch 2's first-year U.S. installed base at 5.9 million units, compared with Game Boy Advance's 6.5 million.

For players, the practical issue is price. Hardware is selling at higher average prices while older Xbox and PlayStation systems are late in their cycles and new Nintendo hardware is absorbing attention. The Reddit discussion framed the numbers around value: whether price hikes can keep revenue up, and whether weak unit sales point to players waiting for discounts, revisions, or next hardware.

Original source · Reddit thread