PlayStation Sales Hit 26-Year Low in May Following PS5 Price Hike

May was a disastrous month for PlayStation and Xbox sales in the U.S., as recent price increases clearly dampened consumer interest in buying new consoles.

Sony raised PS5 prices in April, pushing the standard PS5 to $649.99, the Digital Edition to $599.99, and the PS5 Pro to $899.99. According to new Circana data, this appears to have crushed PS5 sales in May, with spending down 43% year-over-year and unit sales plummeting 58%.

Xbox didn't fare much better. Surprisingly, Xbox Series hardware spending actually grew 7% compared to last year, but unit sales fell by 12%. This discrepancy stems from higher Xbox Series prices in May versus the previous year (Microsoft raised Xbox console prices by $20-$70 in the U.S. last October).

Mat Piscatella, Senior Director of Video Games at Circana, noted that PlayStation hardware unit sales dropped to their lowest May total since May 2000—a grim milestone for Sony. Meanwhile, Xbox hardware unit sales hit an all-time low for any May. A bad month all around.

Highlighting the rising cost of console gaming, Circana reported that the average price paid for a new video game hardware unit reached $502 in May, up 14% from $440 a year ago. The average PS5 price in May 2026 surged 33% year-over-year to $672, while Xbox Series average price climbed 22% to $524. Traditionally, consoles become cheaper over a generation, not more expensive.

Microsoft announced another Xbox Series price increase this week, effective in August. If May's performance is any indication, September Xbox sales could be rough.

These price hikes stem from the "RAMpocalypse," an ongoing global memory shortage and price crisis driven by semiconductor manufacturers shifting DRAM and NAND production to high-margin AI data center hardware.

"Last October, we increased Xbox console prices by $20-$70 in the U.S.," Microsoft said when announcing the latest increases. "We hoped another price increase would not be necessary, and we have spent the last several months working with suppliers on options. Unfortunately, console storage and memory prices have increased by more than 2.5x, and we expect another doubling by fall 2027. The entire consumer electronics industry is struggling with the current components crisis, but the effects are particularly hard on consoles. Unlike phones, computers, speakers, and other devices, consoles are typically sold at a loss or break-even."

Sony blamed its PS5 price hike on "continued pressures in the global economic landscape." It's a similar story across the hardware industry—just look at Valve's Steam Machine.

When will this console price pain end? Not anytime soon, according to reports. Microsoft expects another doubling of console storage and memory prices by fall 2027. So fingers crossed for 2028!