The US console market is in real trouble, at least according to Circana's Mat Piscatella, who reckons it hasn't been this precarious since the early 1980s. In his breakdown of August's US sales data, the analyst revealed that year-to-date hardware unit sales through August have fallen 33% for Xbox and 25% for PlayStation compared to the same period last year. That puts Xbox at an all-time low in the US, while PlayStation has reached its lowest point since 2013.

There's no big mystery here. In 2026 so far, the average price paid for a new Xbox console in the US is $529, up 26% from a year ago, while the average price for a new PlayStation console is $597, up 20%. Both figures are all-time US highs; as Piscatella put it bluntly, price sensitivity is becoming a real problem.

August's numbers show the same pattern, as total hardware unit sales fell 15% year-over-year to 559K units, the lowest for any August since 2013. PlayStation hardware units dropped 11%, to the platform’s lowest August since 2013, and Xbox units plunged 31%, its lowest August since 2020. Even Nintendo hardware unit sales dipped by 15%. Meanwhile, the average price paid for new hardware hit an August record of $541, up from $476 a year ago.

That's how PlayStation 5 hardware dollar sales grew 17% in August, even as PlayStation unit sales fell: consumers are buying fewer consoles but paying considerably more per console. In case you were wondering, Nintendo Switch 2 led the US market in both units and dollars for both August and year-to-date, with PlayStation 5 second across the board and Xbox Series S|X a distant third. Many of these issues trace back to the crazy component costs. Sony's April price increase, which raised the PlayStation 5 and Digital Edition by $100 each and the PS5 Pro by $150 to $899.99, was driven by soaring memory prices as manufacturers prioritized demand from AI data centers, and Xbox and Nintendo are suffering in the same way.

Piscatella sees one potential bright spot on the horizon, noting that the release of the Big Video Game in November may help ease some of these declines. He doesn't name it, but there's little doubt he is referring to Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto VI, which launches on November 19. Even that comes with caveats, though. Any GTA VI bump inevitably depends on product availability, given the ongoing RAM and component crisis, and on pricing. We have already seen new PS5 Pro stock drying up ahead of the launch, to the point that GameStop now prices used consoles well above new ones.

The broader picture wasn't much brighter. Overall, US video game spending fell 9% in August to $4.3 billion, driven primarily by an 18% drop in mobile, while console content spending declined 7%. PC content was a rare bright spot, rising by 13%.

Piscatella also provided an updated year-to-date Top 10 chart of the best-selling premium games released in 2026. CAPCOM's Resident Evil: Requiem is still on top, although we all know the throne of this particular chart will soon be conquered by the aforementioned Big Video Game.

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