December video game hardware spending dropped 29% vs YA, to $1.1B. Spending on PlayStation 5 hardware fell 18% when compared to Dec 2023, with Xbox Series and Switch each declining by 38%. Annual spending on video game hardware finished 25% lower than 2023, at $4.9B.
— Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2025-01-23T14:03:20.603Z
US PS5 sales are pacing ahead of PS4, while Xbox Series lags behind Xbox One
But the US saw a 25% drop in video game hardware spend last year
PS5 console sales are tracking ahead of PS4 in the US, while Xbox Series console sales lag behind Xbox One.
That’s according to Mat Piscatella, executive director and video game industry analyst at Circana (formerly NPD Group), who has summarised the latest US sales data.
In the company’s latest monthly sales report, which was published this week, Piscatella noted that PS5 unit sales are now tracking ahead of PS4’s at the same point in both consoles’ life cycles.
On the other side, Xbox Series console sales are lagging behind the Xbox One, which itself fell behind the PS4, highlighting the widening gap between the machines.
“Through each console’s first 50 months in the US market (life to date ending Dec 2024 for both XBS and PS5), PS5 lifetime unit sales are 7% ahead of PS4’s pace, while Xbox Series trails Xbox One by 18%,” wrote Piscatella in a thread on Bluesky.
“Through 38 months in the US (through Dec 2023), PS5 led PS4 by 6% while XBS trailed XBO by 13%.”
In August, Sony reported that the PS5 had sold 61 million units. While Microsoft doesn’t report hardware figures, a report in the Wall Street Journal claimed in September that the Xbox Series consoles had sold around half of what PS5 had managed at the time.
Piscatella posted that December video game hardware spending dropped 29%, to $1.1B.
“Spending on PlayStation 5 hardware fell 18% when compared to Dec 2023, with Xbox Series and Switch each declining by 38%. Annual spending on video game hardware finished 25% lower than 2023, at $4.9B.”
Piscatella credits the Nintendo Switch being at the end of its lifecycle as one of the factors for declining hardware sales. Nintendo will release its next console, the Nintendo Switch 2, this year.
Elsewhere in Circana’s data, US spending on video games was down 1.1% in 2024 compared to 2023.
This was mainly due to a 25% drop in spending on video game hardware, because sales in content (software, DLC and subscriptions) and accessories were up 2% and 6% respectively.