While Microsoft has had a rough year with its gaming hardware in general, November seems to have been especially bad for the Xbox maker. According to Circana’s Mat Piscatella speaking to IGN, sales in the US for the Xbox Series X/S consoles fell by 70 percent in November 2025 when compared to November 2024.
Piscatella also confirmed that Microsoft wasn’t alone in this, with Sony also having seen a 40 percent year-over-year drop in console hardware sales. The Nintendo Switch 2’s sales can’t really get a similar comparison since the console was released earlier this year. However, comparing it with the original Switch’s sales in November 2024 show the new console falling behind by 10 percent.
The Xbox Series X/S numbers, however, are especially noteworthy because sales dropping off by 70 percent year-over-year has been the biggest hit that Microsoft has taken in this department. One of the reasons behind the low sales of Xbox consoles, according to Piscatella, is just how expensive they are. He pointed out that, taking its price hikes from earlier this year into account, the price of Xbox Series X/S consoles rose by 30 percent year-over-year.
These prices came into effect back in May, with the Xbox Series X now priced at $599.99, while its digital variant is priced at $549.99. The Xbox Series S also saw some price hikes; the 512 GB model costs $379.99, while the 1 TB variant costs $429.99.
According to recent reports, the price hikes seen by Xbox Series X/S may not stop any time soon. A rumour from earlier this month has indicated that the recent shortage of DRAM wafers in the industry might lead to Microsoft raising the prices of its consoles even higher. YouTuber Moore’s Law is Dead noted that Microsoft hadn’t apparently planned for a potential memory shortage when it planned out its current console pricing strategies.
“They didn’t plan ahead at all, apparently. If you still want an Xbox for some reason at their current pricing, those prices could go up soon, or supply could entirely dry up because multiple sources of mine have apparently been warned by sales reps at Microsoft that this is going to affect the Xbox Series consoles very, very soon. Sooner rather than later.”
Microsoft had acknowledged falling hardware sales in its earning report from back in October. In its report, the company confirmed that gaming revenue from the Xbox division had fallen by 2 percent, amounting to $113 million. This was attributed to declining hardware revenue, which had fallen by 29 percent in the quarter. The falling revenue, however, was offset quite a bit thanks to the growth seen by Xbox content and services – games and subscriptions, which saw a growth of 1 percent.
As for the future, while rumours have been going around about next-generation consoles, the ones surrounding Microsoft’s next outing have indicated that it will be more of a console-shaped PC rather than a traditional console. This means that it is expected to be able to run games from storefronts other than the one run by Microsoft, which would include Steam and GOG. In light of this, the console is also expected to be priced at over $1,000.
