1. Aging generation of console hardware
2. Prices higher than ever, including at launch

This is a pretty fucking easy one to crack, fellas.

US spending on video game consoles fell 27% last month, marking the worst November in two decades as tariffs and rising component costs pushed prices to record highs.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/05/05/trump-defends-toy-tariffs/83455040007/

Then Trump suggested children are capable of cutting back on a basic school supply: pencils.

"No, I'm not saying that," Trump when asked whether Americans can expect to see empty store shelves in the future. "I'm just saying they don't need to have 30 dolls. They can have three. They don't need to have 250 pencils. They can have five."

Nonetheless, Trump disputed that his comments should be interpreted as an acknowledgement that prices for Americans are going to increase as a result of his sweeping universal tariff on products imported to the United States.

"No. I think tariffs are going to be great for us because it’s going to make us rich," Trump said.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0fEyMPhDk0

We're going to become so rich we're not going to know where to spend all that money.

Hellooooo Steam backlog

I usually like nintendo type systems and would scrounge together money for one for me and my wife to play together when they released one. We aren’t even trying for the switch 2. The from launch 80 dollar game releases, paired with baked in upgrade costs for games we already have and subscriptions for everything in between; it’s as a whole not worth it.

Console price increases

Game Pass/PSN price increases

$80+ Nintendo games

Micron axing consumer RAM sales

Nvidia cutting consumer GPU production

Gee, I wonder why...

Well let's see, what's on the market in the video game console vertical?

• Playstation 5, initially released in 2020 with 84 million units shipped. Still not an amazing software library, it's been since the PS3 that I've heard of anything on Playstation that even made me want to go over to a friend's house to play that with them.
• Xbox Series S and X, again released in 2020, only 24 million units sold between the two models, and I'm amazed that many people bought one given how many balls Microsoft's gaming division has dropped since the 360, to include naming the consoles the "Series S and X" immediately after the "One S and One X". They've all but announced they're exiting the entertainment-capable software market entirely; it wouldn't surprise me if they removed the ability to render knock knock jokes from TrueType fonts at this point.
• Switch 2, the only main console that came out this year, in 6 months it's sold 10 million units pretty much entirely out of force of habit I think because we're entering our third human generation of "You buy a Nintendo for children." The library consists of $80 games, most of which are Switch games that run at higher resolution and frame rates. And they've been egregiously anti-consumer this generation, like, more than usual and that's saying something. Oh, and doesn't the console fall out from between the joycons now?
• Steam Deck, released in 2003 2023, has sold some 4 million units, it almost doesn't count as it's a gaming laptop with face buttons and joysticks instead of a keyboard, is also here.

For some context:

• Playstation 4 sold 117 million units
• Xbox One sold 58 million
• Switch sold 154 million

Prices are going up, fewer games are being made, "monetization" is getting more and more egregious, and again I wonder how many people are buying Nintendos for children out of sheer force of habit.

I'm doing my part by buying used xbox games on ebay. I was going to get a ps5 but... nah fuck that.

homer-simpson-"worst-so-far"-meme.jpg

Playstation still wants to play the bullshit exclusive game so I will never buy a playstation again. They are getting better, but I won't support that behavior. Epic games can take a walk too.

Switch 2 is selling at a faster rate than Switch 1 did at this stage in its lifecycle. The OG Switch is on track to be the best selling console of all time.

I'd imagine that this is entirely happening because xbox has collapsed amongst Microsoft loudly conceding this console generation and heavily suggesting future support for their consoles will be limited. This is catastrophic in an era when many people buy digital copies of games and do not want to be locked in to a dead platform. I bought a 2nd hand Series S as a budget console but will only buy games for it on deep discount or if they have a low sticker price; the result of that has been that it has turned into a retro games platform for me to play SSX3 and the old Dead Or Alive games.

PS5 Pro is too expensive for limited gains while the market for the OG PS5 will be saturated by this point. I'd guess that the release of GTA6 will increase sales next year though.

Well, yeah. The worst of the 2600 is more playable than the new crud.

In those figures, do they count standalone VR headsets as consoles? Cuz they basically are. May not be the same shape, but they do the same thing. And would fill the same role in christmas shopping regards. With the Quest 3s going down to 200 USD for black friday, I have to imagine there were some units sold there.