Video game console sales in the US hit their worst August in 13 years, as Circana's Mat Piscatella revealed that hardware sales fell 15% from a year ago to 559,000 units. This is the lowest August total since 2013 (423,000 units), with PlayStation sales down 11% year-over-year, Xbox unit sales down 31% year-over-year (the lowest August total since 2020), and Nintendo unit sales down 15% compared with August 2025.

The silver lining (for the companies making these machines) is that higher hardware prices have pushed the average price from $476 in 2025 to $541 in 2026, meaning consumers are paying more for fewer machines on the market. Several factors are at play: current console prices are at historical highs, not lows, driven by global component pressure and mid-gen hardware upgrades like the $900 PS5 Pro, which pushes average prices up. 

Basically, consumers are buying fewer units because the entry barrier is much higher than in past console cycles. After six years, market saturation has also likely set in for the Xbox Series X|S and PS5, and hardware price increases implemented earlier in 2026 triggered a massive buying wave to get ahead of the price hikes. That led to frontloaded demand and drained potential summer console purchases, but for Sony, dollar sales actually grew 17% year-on-year due to higher-tier hardware models, even as unit volume dropped 11%.

Historically, August 2013 can also be seen as the twilight phase of the PS3 and Xbox 360 era. It's a tale as old as time, as 13 years ago, gamers were saving their cash and preparing to invest in a PS4 or an Xbox One ahead of their November 2013 launch.

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