November is supposed to be the month that saves the games business. This year, it did the opposite. New data shows U.S. video game hardware sales collapsed to levels not seen in three decades, rattling an industry already wrestling with rising prices, tired consumers, and uneasy forecasts.
A holiday month that barely showed up
According to new figures from Circana, just 1.6 million video game hardware units were sold in the United States in November. That number alone raised eyebrows.
It gets worse.
Total spending on hardware came in at $695 million, a figure that marks the weakest November since 2005. Compared with November 2024, spending dropped 27%.
This is not a normal dip. November is usually the strongest month of the year for gaming sales, fueled by Black Friday deals, gift buying, and major releases.
Instead, this November turned into the softest the industry has seen since 1995. Back then, the original PlayStation had barely landed in the U.S., and the modern console era was just starting to take shape.
Consoles stumble across the board
The decline was broad and unforgiving. No major platform escaped the slowdown, though some were hit harder than others.
Xbox took the sharpest blow. Sales of Microsoft’s current-generation consoles fell 70% year over year, a collapse that stunned even seasoned analysts.
Sony did not fare much better. PlayStation 5 sales slid 40% compared with the same month last year, a steep drop for what has been the dominant console of this generation.
Nintendo, often treated as the industry’s safety net, also slipped.
Despite launching the Switch 2 earlier this year and outperforming the original Switch in recent months, Nintendo sold 10% fewer units in November than the aging, seven-year-old Switch managed in November 2024. That comparison includes both Switch models combined.
One line stood out.
Even fresh hardware could not outrun consumer fatigue.
A surprise winner in a bleak month
There was, oddly enough, one bright spot.
A lesser-known $250 system called the NEX Playground, built around motion controls and party-style games, outsold Xbox hardware during the month. It is a niche device, aimed at families and casual players rather than core gamers.
That detail says a lot.
When a low-priced, novelty-leaning console moves more units than a flagship platform, something fundamental is off. Consumers are not rejecting games entirely. They are rejecting expensive entry points.
It is a subtle signal, but a loud one.
Prices keep climbing as wallets shrink
Industry analysts point to cost as the main pressure point.
Mat Piscatella, a longtime observer of U.S. game sales, has repeatedly warned that higher prices are reshaping buyer behavior. In 2025, that warning looks hard to ignore.
Sony and Microsoft both raised prices on their core consoles this year, even though the systems launched back in 2020. Nintendo increased the price of the original Switch, introduced in 2017, and faced heavy criticism for the cost of the Switch 2.
Here is how the landscape looks now:
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PlayStation 5: $549, or $499 without a disc drive
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PlayStation 5 Pro: $749
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Xbox Series X: $599
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Xbox Series S (digital-only): $449
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Switch 2: $449
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Original Switch: $339
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Switch OLED: $399
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Switch Lite: $229
That lineup tells a simple story.
Console gaming has become expensive, even before games, accessories, or subscriptions enter the picture.
Tariffs, chips, and an uncomfortable timing problem
Manufacturers say price hikes are not arbitrary. Higher memory costs, supply chain pressures, and tariffs introduced during the Trump administration have all raised production expenses.
Those explanations are real. Consumers, however, feel the result more than the cause.
November landed at a bad moment. Inflation has cooled compared with earlier years, but household budgets remain tight. Rent, groceries, and interest payments compete directly with entertainment spending.
For many families, a $600 console becomes an easy thing to postpone.
That delay adds up fast when millions of households make the same choice.
Physical game sales also slide
Hardware was not alone in its slump.
Physical software sales also fell sharply in November, continuing a long trend away from discs and cartridges. Digital downloads now dominate, but even total game spending showed signs of fatigue.
Big releases still draw attention, but fewer players are buying games at full price on day one. Subscriptions, discounts, and waiting games have become common habits.
One sentence keeps resurfacing in analyst notes.
Players are being pickier.
A three-decade low raises uncomfortable questions
The historical comparison is what truly unsettles industry watchers.
The last time November sales were this weak, the gaming business looked nothing like it does today. There were fewer consoles, fewer players, and far less cultural weight attached to games.
Now gaming is mainstream, global, and deeply embedded in pop culture. A November this bad was supposed to be impossible.
Yet here it is.
Some see this as a temporary correction after pandemic-era highs. Others worry it reflects a deeper shift away from traditional console cycles.
Mobile gaming, PC gaming, and free-to-play models continue to siphon attention without requiring a $500 buy-in.
The question is whether console makers can adapt fast enough.
The industry braces for a quiet winter
December sales will matter, but November is the bellwether. A weak start to the holiday season usually sets the tone.
Retailers are already adjusting expectations. Publishers are spacing releases. Hardware makers are leaning harder on bundles and limited promotions rather than permanent price cuts.
There is no single villain here.
High prices, economic strain, aging hardware, and shifting habits all collided at once. The result was a month that rewrote a statistic nobody wanted rewritten.
For an industry already in flux, November 2025 will be remembered as the moment the numbers stopped lying and started shouting.
