According to Circana’s monthly analysis of console hardware sales in the US, neither Sony nor Microsoft have much to celebrate for the month of May 2026. As caught by Kotaku, this May has been the worst one for Xbox in terms of hardware sales since the division’s inception. Similarly, Sony also experienced its worst May since 2000. The industry analysis firm has noted that this likely came down to console price hikes, with the average price of gaming hardware hitting $502 in May 2026 – up by 14 percent year-on-year.
When taking individual companies into account, Sony’s consoles have seen a steep rise in price to an average of $672. This marks a 33 percent increase from last year. Microsoft’s Xbox Series X/S, on the other hand, has seen prices go up by 22 percent, to $524.
Curiously, while Xbox unit sales have been going down by 12 percent, spending on Xbox hardware has seemingly gone up when compared to last year. PlayStation, unfortunately, doesn’t have the same benefits, with spending having dropped by 43 percent when compared to May 2025, coupled with a 58 percent drop in console unit sales.
“Xbox is currently tracking a distant third in hardware sales among the major manufacturers. But they are getting more revenue from each unit sold, enough to make dollar sales grow in May despite the unit drop,” said Circana’s Mat Piscatella. “If that fits the definition of ‘working’ or not, I don’t know.”
Nintendo, on the other hand, has continued to see growth in console sales, with 5.9 million units of the Switch 2 having been sold in the US in the console’s first year. This has also made it the second-fastest-selling gaming hardware in the country, right behind the Game Boy Advance, which had sold 6.5 million units in its first year. With a price hike looming over the horizon for the Nintendo Switch 2, however, Piscatella has noted that the coming year “may be a tough one” for the console in terms of hardware sales.
As for software sales, IO Interactive’s 007 First Light has topped the sales charts in the US, followed by Forza Horizon 6 in second place and LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight in third. Fourth place has been taken up by the Early Access release of Subnautica 2. The only other new game in the top-10 chart is Yoshi and the Mystery Book, which debuted at 8th place. The rest of the chart is taken up by games released earlier in the year, like Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream at 5th, MLB: The Show 26 at 6th, Crimson Desert at 7th, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 at 9th, and Mario Kart World at 10th.
Piscatella noted that there weren’t really any anomalies in software sales for the month of May 2026 in the US, while also mentioning that half of the titles in the list were new releases. It is worth noting that three of the top 10 best-sellers in the US were exclusive to Nintendo platforms.
Hardware – The average price paid for a new unit of video game hardware reached $502 in May, up 14% compared to a year ago ($440). May 2026 PlayStation 5 average pricing increased by 33% versus a year ago to $672, with Xbox Series up 22%, to $524.
— Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2026-06-26T13:00:03.582Z
