US console sales hit new low in July as physical Xbox games plummet

$282 million was spent on new video game hardware in the US this July, which is much less than you’d think, and barely anyone bought physical Xbox games.

In previous generations, it was worth waiting a few years after a new console launched so you could pick it up at a lower price. That’s not the case anymore though, as current gen consoles have only grown more expensive since launch.

Thanks to multiple price hikes, the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X are now, at their cheapest, £519.99 and £619.99, respectively, and even the Nintendo Switch 2 is set to go up in price after just over a year on the market.

Combined with everything else being more expensive than ever, it should come as no surprise that new video game hardware has become less of a priority for ordinary customers, as spending in the US has dropped so low that it’s comparable to the days of the coronavirus pandemic.

This is according to a report by Circana analyst Mat Piscatella, who has shared US sales data for July on Bluesky and said that hardware sales dropped by 39% compared to the same month last year.

Overall hardware spending for the month dropped to $282 million (about £207 million), which is a 29% decline compared to the same period last year and also the worst July for hardware spending since 2020.

$163 million (about £120 million) was spent on hardware in June 2020 and that was four months after the US began implementing lockdowns in response to the coronavirus.

Granted, the Nintendo Switch 2 saw a very successful launch in June 2025, so a decline in hardware spending is to be expected. As Piscatella points out though, this is clearly driven by how pricey game consoles are, which in turn is a result of the ongoing component crisis that is also impacting the PC and mobile markets.

The Switch 2 actually saw the biggest decline in sales compared to last year – a 51% drop – but, again, that’s compared to its launch period and the fact that the only Switch 2 exclusive in July was spin-off game Splatoon Raiders.

Meanwhile, PlayStation 5 sales declined by 6% while Xbox Series X/S sales dropped by 18%, although they’re now so low it’s barely worth counting anymore.

July was also a typically quiet month for new video game releases, so there was very little to encourage people to pick up a new console. Although that was the month of Halo: Campaign Evolved, a remake of the first Halo game meant to revitalise interest in the franchise and expand its audience with its PlayStation debut.

It already seemed as if the Halo remake hadn’t been as much of a hit as Microsoft probably wanted it, especially on PlayStation 5, and it doesn’t seem to have moved many new Xbox consoles either.

Circana does project it as being the sixth best selling game of July 2026, but that’s behind the likes of the Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag remake, EA Sports College Football 27, and Activision’s PlayStation 4 and 5 ports of the first two Call Of Duty: Black Ops games.

Speaking of Xbox, in a follow-up statement to Kotaku, Piscatella added that when it came to that month’s physical game sales, only 4% of them were for Xbox games.

We’ve seen some suggest that Xbox could score a win over PlayStation by advocating for physical media since Sony plans to ditch disc based games after 2027, but this data only lends credence to Xbox doing the exact same thing with Project Helix and promoting a digital-only future.

Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter.

To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here.

For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.