Aug 2024 USA Sales: Console Sales Take a Sharp Decline, But PS5 Is Still King

Handball no1 in USA, no surprises there.

Nothing lasts forever. PS5 (and even XSX) sales were highly inflated over the Covid and post-Covid period due to hardware shortages. Now the market is saturated and you can get a used PS5 for as little as $300 in Poland. I doubt PS5 Pro will improve the situation much. While both PS5 and XSX are great consoles hardware-wise there just haven’t been so many essential games that would make you dream of having one. Quite a few people moved over to PC due to the slow death of exclusives. I wonder how the Switch 2 will fare next year but I expect it to explode as Nintendo still values its first party output enough to keep it close to their chest.

August? That's two months ago.. Shouldn't it be September?

@gollumb82 I'm 50/50 on how Switch 2 will do. Switch 1 was a phenomenon with the whole handheld thing, and was sufficiently cheap compared to any other console it did great, and the dockable handheld was novel. Then it exploded in the extreme with AC:NH+lockdowns + every other console was unavailable.

If they go more expensive as is expected, I'm not sure they can do nearly as well. People were down for a $300 console. Not as much $400 or more. Not the casuals who consumed it for MK and AC:NH. The more consoles, even Nintendo price themselves upward, the more "core market only" they become, and that just devastates the install base and software sales numbers. Nintendo numbers are driven by households having multiple for kids, too, cut that, and their numbers plummet.

Nintendo's saving grace is that their target market is parents though. Approaching the business as a toy maker making must have toys targeted at parents is a goldmine. Personally, people keep raving about Switch's games and I've felt at after launch year, a lot of their games have become cookie cutter hollow templates. I opted to buy the Alarmo clock for $100 instead of a $100 voucher for the new Zelda 20fps game and M&L that I've loved the series since forever but don't trust a new dev that's not Alpha Dream yet. I figure the clock will give me more value and Nintendo magic. It's the true last remnant of Iwata left (his infamous "QoL device" he talked about for years and they only just announced it now. It reminds me what's missing at Nintendo after losing him. The clock is Switch 2.

Weren't we still in Sony's post shortage very high sales year this time last year? If so a drop of a third doesnt sound too unusual at all to me.

Though I would agree with @gollumb82 that lack of true AAA exclusives (except Astro) may be starting to have an effect.

Maybe Pro will stem the flow of customers over to PC a bit but they need to start properly advertising it! The general consensus of people who have actually played the thing / seen it running in person is them coming away highly impressed.

(NB despite what Sony thinks I do believe people are moving over to PC in some numbers now due to poor optimisation on games from 3rd party and the exclusives situation).

Nice to see that Visions of Mana is doing well.

@Maubari This report is for August 4-31. For September 1-October 5, the report will be release in October 23

@Jrs1 This really made me laugh!

@NEStalgia I agree with you about Nintendo on certain points. I think the next system will either bomb or smash all records. As much as I adored Iwata San, I think that the "new" Nintendo is much more cautious when it comes to their core business. They won't be trying to change the world with their next system and it will be very much a continuation of an amazing formula.

@NEStalgia
You made some great points as usual NES. I have had a Switch v2 for a few years now but it’s mainly used by my daughter. That said, I have noticed her (she’s 7) losing interest in it and instead playing games on my PS5 (Astro, Spyro, Little Big Planet). Last game I bought for her was Princess Peach Showtime and that was half a year ago). I wonder if Switch 2 will indeed have an nVidia gpu as some rumours suggested. If true, it could be much more expensive than S1 and spell doom for Ninty. As for Sony and Playstation, I figure the next couple of years will show the direction in which the whole industry is headed in. I’m good with my PS5 for now but I’ll definitely be thinking hard on what to get next and it’s going to be either a PS6 or PC.

Elder Scrolls Online showing up! U Luv 2 C it!

seems switch game sales is out of favor for most us gamers with the exception of the occasional big nintendo game..quite a difference compared to japan..

@NEStalgia switch 2 price will be a negative factor for parents..

@gollumb82 @NEStalgia Switch is essentially a kids toy (as NES stated). And as parents, we all know kids toys usually hold 6-8 months of interest after purchase. The fact that its geared toward kids as a toy does help its sales. Especially for those parents who buy 2 because the kids wanna play together.

With all honesty though, I don't know a single family that either still uses their Switch, or uses it as their main console. I can vouch for my family and say that the thing has been in a box for about 3 years now. My son is 17 and now plays PC and PS5 games. My daughter is 11 and has little interest in video games anymore. The novelty has worn off.

As far as Switch 2 though, I think it'll do great because a new batch of kids will want 1, or maybe 2, depending on the household. The price likely won't be a factor since there's nothing more parents like to do than post a video of their kids' faces opening up the gift they actually asked for on Christmas day.

@gollumb82 Switch 2 will have Nvidia. Switch 1 has Nvidia But it's not like comparing it to an Ada or Blackwell cores on the PC cards, it's certainly still going to be from the Tegra line of mobile/automotive chips. Even Nvidia can't get an Ada running on a battery lol. Some rumors have said $400 which is $50 more than SWOLED which, IMO is still too much for Nintendo, but "the current market" seems like it would go that way. Other rumors said $500 which IMO kills Nintendo.

@__jamiie Yeah, 50/50. On one hand "keep doing the same thing" is safe. No WiiU. On the other hand, that'll just get them into the rut Sony is in, and the Wii, DS, and Switch itself were all Iwata's crazy ideas hitting big. Doing the same thing over and over is what Yamauchi was doing, and it wasn't working. We'll see. Does it have the same kind of brand recognition that just makes it sell no matter what? Maybe.

@johnedwin Yeah we keep hearing people talk about "inflation" and "well everything is more expensive", but it doesn't work that way. It's "stagflation" Wages are the same they were 10-15 years ago with minimal increases and costs are 50% up. To a business $500 is the new $300. To a consumer $200 is the new $300. That's a problem for toys and entertainment businesses. Nintendo's in arrogance mode, I think. They'll lose sight of costs. A $100 alarm clock. Yes I ordered one, but this isn't about me....

@PuppetMaster Same, I'm glad to see Visions of Mana in the top 10! It's the game that surprised me the most this year, such a joy to play!

I think the issue of ps5 console sales slowdown is more to do with the fact that the market is saturated, not the lack of exclusive first party titles.

Generation alpha are now gaming more on their phones and with f2p titles, if they play traditional titles it tends to be on pc where most streamers are also playing. Mobile gaming is essentially “free” as the majority have relatively capable handsets on contracts, it’s also more convenient and accessible than traditional consoles.

Development costs are increasing alongside hardware costs and consoles are no longer as profitable as they once were. Triple a game development is also far more of a risk - games are far more likely to underperform in the current market than they are to produce a return of significant value to investors.

I don’t envy Sony trying to navigate the current economic climate and markets whilst maintaining profits capable of placating their shareholders. They don’t have the fallback capital available to Microsoft and to a lesser extent Nintendo.

@NEStalgia I really miss Iwata.

PS5 hype is over,not special or “new” anymore.

@__jamiie Me too

Yeah. I truly doubt Sony will hit their 18 million target for this fiscal year, unless some kind of miracle will happen. The are currently sitting at around 4,7 million console sold since april. So they need to sell more than 13 million PS5 consoles from september to march.

@NEStalgia Congrats on the $100 clock. Don’t forget to buy an adapter since the $100 clock doesn’t come with a plug.🤑

Switch 2 will sell for $400 and sell well b/c we haven’t gotten a new Mario Kart game in over 10 years, since May 2014, and MK8 has sold like 80 million copies. Launch w/ MK9 and it’s done. Launch w/ MK8 Deluxe Complete and it will still sell out and have a bump when MK9 releases a year later. And if it has PS4 Pro power (4 not 5) and similar FuaxK it might be useable for Fortnite and such. Who knows, maybe it gets the Hoyoverse games, seems like that’s all that’s new these days. It may not do PS2 numbers but it will easily do PS5.

Not that PS5 is doing great, but it will get Wolverine and FF7 Reunification eventually.

And I like how everyone just calls you NES now, you’re like the Bono of PS. 😎

@rjejr Oh, FFS, Nintendo. Fortunately I have USB adapters around so not a disaster but seriously wtf. Clocks 50 years ago you just plug in, the cord wasn't separate. Seriously the clock is the only thing out of Nintendo lately that feels Nintendo. The games feel so formulaic with a few exceptions. The clock is pure Iwata. Worth $100 for one last chance to be surprised and delighted by the maestro. Better than the stutter fest Zelda game that still just follows the crafting zeitgeist.

You've been a big birthday fan. have you been pleased with their output lately, or feeling like you've outgrown Nintendo in a way that never happened with Iwata? I wanted to love switch but it just hasn't happened for me.

Lol, if only I could turn it to cash like Bono I'd be all set! 🎸

@LowDefAl To be fair even my legion z1 extreme and ally non extreme have more steady performance than the consoles have. yes some games are outside it's ability to run. And some games only pull off 30-45fps because it's technically a potato that's weaker than PS5 technically, but I can dial back the graphics and let it run smoothly. The problem on consoles is that with locked settings the performance is worse than it should be because they still make compromises for pretty over performance. So you end up with weak pcs running games smoother then the console because devs bog the console down with gfc settings it doesn't need. The problem is devs, not the hardware, but it's still a more constant problem on console because of that.

As to price though yeah that's exactly it. Heck Meta just released a $300 quest 3 all in 1. Is a quest 3 with fresnel lenses and no adjustments on the visor. How does Meta get the market better than the legacy players? All that civ play is working on ol Zuck.

Until more PS5 only must have games arrive, sales of the console will continue to decline. I expect, as I’d imagine everyone does, that there will be a huge sales spike whenever GTA 6 arrives.

It's strange that Star Wars Outlaws is up that high yet Ubisoft are disappointed with the sales. It's the same with Square Enix with their games, no amount of sales is ever enough.

@LowDefAl
That is a fair point. Main reason why I went back to PS5 and sold my ROG Ally. I was tinkering with the settings more than actually gaming and it started to irritate me. Also, HDR is still broken on PC. Shader compilation in UE games is still a mess on PC and WRC 23 is basically still unplayable on PC a year from launch due to constant stutter. On PS5 the game is smooth as butter. Then again Until Dawn Remake uses UE5 and it stutters as well. Sigh. The state of gaming in 2024 I guess. Still, there’s no denying console gaming is just more convenient and streamlined.

This generation started strong, imo, but around mid-2022 it took a sharp decline. Not that there aren't great games but most of the best are sequels to games that have a specific audience or remakes. I'd say outside of Astro Bot the best games on PS5 this year are Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and Silent Hill 2. Last year's best game was Resident Evil 4. All are awesome but it's been there, done that and the remakes/remasters aren't being balanced out well by great, new games, especially new IP. When you factor in that PS4 is still getting competent versions of many games, it's no wonder sales are slowing. I'll be interested to see how much impact PS5 Pro has. I do think the first 2-4 months will be very impressive, after that is the question.

@LowDefAl Well, yes, if you reduce the price of any luxury product with the exception of a giffen good, you’ll capture more of the demand curve and therefore see more sales.

As you point out, Sony are unable to reduce costs of the ps5 to the levels achieved on the ps4. The ps4 slim launched roughly 3 years after the launch of the original unit for $100 less. The ps5 slim launched at the same price as the original launch unit. So at the current, and probable long-term pricing of the ps5, saturation point is being reached.

@NEStalgia "You've been a big birthday fan. have you been pleased with their output lately"

I am a big birthday fan, planning for my big 6-0 next year (not a typo) but not sure what that has to do w/ Nintendo, Switch or Iwata? 🤷‍♂️ Don't think I bought into the whole Iwata worship but at least he wasn't pizza spokesman Reggie, paid powerless corporate mouthpiece. Though I'd take Reggie over suit & sneaker boy any day. 😜 Or Elmo. Whole freakin' world has gone insane. 😱

Haven't played on my Switch much lately. Watched my kid play FF7 (original) b/c it seemed funny (I own the original discs and a PS1) and the Bakeru demo. I've already played Mario RPG and TTYD. Peach Showtime demo was enough for us. Mario & Luigi would be Day 1 if my wife could play as Luigi. Party has never been my thing. I'll borrow Zelda from the library for my wife to play, not worth $60.

I have to think there are several Switch 2 games that will make me buy one, despite my advanced age. Mario Galaxy 3, MK9. Some Yarn game, whoever's turn it is. Even a new Paper Mario. I liked Origami King, how long can it take to make one of those? Switch is almost 8 years old, almost every series is owed a new game by now. Smash. Luigi's Mansion (ports don't count), Donkey Kong. Pikmin 5. We did get 2 Spaltoons. 😝

Of course PS5 ain't doing much better. Where's Wolverine? I honestly can't recall anything in that SoP. Watched it live. Had at least a dozen, maybe 15 gams. Lots of brown. Maybe zombies. Sure I'm old and have zero recollection but if there was something in it that I really wanted or excited me I'd remember. Nothing specific like a name, but I'd remember there was a game I wanted. OK yeah Ghost 2 at the end. But really, I just played InFamous First Light, and I'd much rather have a fun game like that, or Sunset Overdrive, than another "real life" game. Real life is boring, that's why I play video games.

Enjoy your clock. I'm enjoying baseball, life long Mets fan if I've never mentioned it, and football. Been doing less gaming, more home fall cleaning stuff. I mostly just watch my kids play, Tales of Arise now. We're a big JRPG family. Visions of Mana looks good, we'll get that soon(ish).

It's been all downhill since the Dreamcast, Gamecube, PS2 gen. You know it. I know it,. We all know it. 😩

@Foxhound Sadly the studio got closed down by NetEase. I hope some of the devs join SE or studio who developed Trials of Mana remake.

@rjejr I'm not a birthday fan, you didn't used to be a birthday fan, but the only thing is has to do with Nintendo is that autocorrect apparently thinks Nintendo is spelled "birthday" 😂. I guess it's more fitting that "deodorant" 😂

Infamous was great. I like ghost, but that happened to the fun games that weren't about the sadness of war and apocalypse? Not sure what's wrong with creators today.

I'm playing video games to get away from yard work. I stand outside playing VR pressure washer simulator instead of doing actual pressure washing i actually should be doing. I figure simulating it counts as doing with if I'm standing in the right spot to do the actual work. Maybe we can get tax simulator so we don't have to actually do that either

Considering the most interesting 2 games of 2024 are Metaphor and Pirate Majima, I think the Dreamcast is getting the last laugh in the end . Metaphor sold 1/5 as many units in a day as PS5 has sold since April, and probably gets more profit too! 😂

@Godot25 Meanwhile Xbox will hit about 500k.

@NattyKing So? I can't remember that Xbox issued a guidance about sales of hardware for fiscal year

It's hilarious that every time when people are talking about fact that PS5 is selling worse and worse than PS4, other will counter with same old "but what about Xbox muh?"

@Godot25 That's because they stopped reporting Xbox sales in the 360 era...

Nobody said "what about Xbox?", it's a comparison point to PlayStation's competitor. Don't get salty over the fact that Xbox is dying brand.

@NattyKing I haven't bring up Xbox once time.
I just said that Sony will have hard time hitting their 18 million PS5 sold guidance if sales will continue this trend.

So, I don't know if you are just dumb, or you need to talk about Xbox all the time...

@Godot25 You did make some lame joke about Xbox not issuing guidance about sales. All we need to know is that relative to the competition they're through the floor.

"I haven't bring up Xbox once time" - And I'm the dumb one 😁

@NEStalgia "most interesting 2 games of 2024"

Mine are "Stellar Blade", which I wasn't going to play b/c I thought it was a Soulslike but then someone on here told me it had an "easy" mode and I saw it on my library shelf so I played it, and Plucky Squire, which I played on PS+ Extra.

Black Myth Wukong looks good too but I don't think that was has an easy mode.

I've always been a big birthday fan. I spent an entire month on NL making everyone wish me a happy 50th birthday. Next year I'll be milking it for the entire 12 months.😂 I grew up foodstamp poor and birthdays were really the only time we splurged. 🎂