jm89
Member
After a period of post-launch constraints that both limited sales potential while also causing planners across the industry to pull out significant amounts of hair, supply of new hardware has become more readily available. PlayStation 5 has been particularly strong over the past year, with its supply noticeably improving beginning in July 2022. We expect PlayStation 5 to remain the hardware market sales leader into at least 2025.
Despite the supply constraints early in the generation each console is comparing well to prior hardware releases. On a comparative basis, PlayStation 5 is now trending 5% above PlayStation 4 and 87% ahead of PlayStation 3 in time aligned units sold life-to-date, while Xbox Series trails Xbox One by 10% yet leads Xbox 360 by 6%.
Switch has also continued to perform strongly in 2023, helped by the release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. In fact, the US lifetime sales of Switch hardware finally surpassed those of Wii in the US market during July 2023. Switch lifetime sales now trail Xbox 360 by less than one million units, and PlayStation 2 by fewer than five million.
We are, however, seeing a shift in the customer base for new video game hardware. Circana’s Checkout service has uncovered that high income households (those earning over $100k/year) are contributing most to current video game hardware sales, a significant shift from where the market was at the beginning of 2020. Higher prices in everyday spending categories such as food and gas, as well as a shift from Switch towards more expensive PlayStation 5 consoles are likely contributing factors, among others.
Last edited: