sale of consoles down 40% during last May in the United States, a number that confirms that the sector is not going through the best period and that the decline in sales of PS5, Xbox Series X-Series S and Nintendo Switch is a reality that seems to be getting worse. . In this case, the comparison was made with the month of May 2023. However, the PS5 continues to lead in sales within the current generation.

Reviewing the data from the report published by Circana, we also note that this was the case in the same month 3% drop in game sales, digital content and subscriptions. The decline was so general that it also affected sales of video game-related accessories, which also fell by 8%. This is how things stayed in American marketone of the most important in the world:

• Video game sales fell from $3,733 million to $3,624 million (-3%).
• Console sales fell from $339 million to $202 million (-40%).
• Sales of video game accessories fell from $161 million to $148 million (-8%).
• Interestingly, spending on mobile content (smartphones and tablets) grew by 13%.

Sales of exclusive PC games offset console declines

And they do it in a violent way, we only need to see the data which version Ghost of Tsushima and Helldivers 2 for PC. Both games have seen great success on compatibility, and the same can be said for other previously released games that have been able to improve the revenue of Sony’s video game division.

This decline in sales, which consoles have been suffering for a long time, confirms that the current generation no longer generates the same interest and that they are in the main phase of exhaustion. This phase could be overcome by the introduction of two important new features, the PS5 Pro and the Nintendo Switch 2. The first will be an intergenerational refresh and the second will be a next-generation console.

Both consoles are generating a lot of interest and I am confident that they will play a key role in improving the sales results that we are now seeing at the hardware level in this sector. We still don’t have an official release date, but all indications are that the PS5 Pro could hit the market at the end of this yearprobably between the months of September and October, although we are not ruling out November due to the proximity of the Christmas campaign.

In the case of the Nintendo Switch 2, it is almost certain that we will go to first quarter of 2025. We have no reason for this apparent delay of this long-awaited console, which according to NVIDIA itself has been finished and ready for release for some time, but evil tongues say that Nintendo has a lot of stock of the Nintendo Switch and that it decided to delay the launch of the new console in order to provided some reserve to clear said inventory.