Circana Analyst Warns US Console Market Faces Worst Slump Since 1980s

According to Circana analyst Mat Piscatella, surging demand for memory chips in AI data centers has driven console prices to record highs and triggered severe sales drops in the US. Over the first eight months of the year, US sales of Xbox consoles fell 33% while PlayStation sales dropped 25% year-over-year. This highlights how the boom in AI infrastructure is causing spillover supply-chain inflation across consumer hardware markets. If memory chip capacity remains dominated by enterprise AI data centers, hardware manufacturers like Sony and Microsoft will face persistent supply constraints and price pressure regardless of major game releases. During the first eight months of the year, the average selling price of an Xbox in the US rose 26% year-over-year to $529, while PlayStation averaged $597, up 20%. Industry experts note that even highly anticipated title releases like GTA 6 may not fully offset the decline if memory shortages severely restrict manufacturing output.