PlayStation and Xbox Console Sales Collapse Following Damaging Price Rises

May was a catastrophic month for PlayStation and Xbox sales in the U.S., driven by price rises that have clearly had a significant impact on consumer interest in buying a new console. Sony raised the price of PS5 consoles in April, bringing the cost of a standard PS5 to $649.99, the PS5 Digital Edition to $599.99, and the PS5 Pro to $899.99. Those price rises appear to have dented PS5 sales in the U.S. in May, when, according to new Circana data, PS5 spending fell 43% year-on-year, and unit sales plummeted 58%. Xbox didn’t do much better. Surprisingly, Xbox Series hardware spending actually grew 7% versus a year ago, but unit sales fell by 12%. That’s the result of Xbox Series costing more in May versus the previous May (Microsoft increased the Xbox console price by $20-$70 in the U.S. last October). Mat Piscatella, Senior Director, Video Games at Circana said PlayStation hardware unit sales fell to their lowest May total since May 2000, which seems pretty terrible for Sony. Meanwhile, Xbox hardware unit sales were the lowest ever recorded for a May month. Bad all round. Hammering home the point that getting into console gaming has become more expensive, Circana said the average pr