[Gameindustry.biz] Xbox console sales predicted to fall to just 13% share in 2025 in the UK (NielsenIQ/GfK Entertainment)

[Deep_Black_Conscious]

No one will. It's not an attractive market to begin with. The customer base is stagnate to shrinking. When the millennials get old enough it'll die out like cable TV is now. The generations after millennials like mobile games and free to play stuff like Fortnite. They not trying to spend $500+ on a dedicated gaming box.

This has been a narrative since about 2016 yet Sony had the best playstation profits in their history this gen. The decline only applies to xbox. The switch 2 is also doing well and yes that's still a console with the ability to be portable. The ps5 sales show they are willing to spend $500 as the ps5 has been selling well at $500 the past 5 years. $500 seems to be the cutoff price though. Possibly $550 yet that remains to be seen until the $550 disc ps5 sales data becomes available. Sony sells a ps6 at $600 or above, sales will be abysmal. Below $600, say the same prices as the discless and the disc ps5, the success will continue next gen

 

[Fatboi1]

The only way I can see consoles like the Playstation cease to exist is if streaming games become indistinguishable from local play and you can play games with basic internet that rivals local PS5 quality image. At that point you'd only need a TV/laptop/phone and an internet connection.

 

[Deep_Black_Conscious]

The only way I can see consoles like the Playstation cease to exist is if streaming games become indistinguishable from local play and you can play games with basic internet that rivals local PS5 quality image.

That's not anytime soon. Console gaming is going to be Sony and Nintendo a while until a new company decides to compete, assuming there is no xbox as a console after this gen.

 

[winb83]

This has been a narrative since about 2016 yet Sony had the best playstation profits in their history this gen. The decline only applies to xbox. The switch 2 is also doing well and yes that's still a console with the ability to be portable. The ps5 sales show they are willing to spend $500 as the ps5 has been selling well at $500 the past 5 years. $500 seems to be the cutoff price though. Possibly $550 yet that remains to be seen until the $550 disc ps5 sales data becomes available. Sony sells a ps6 at $600 or above, sales will be abysmal. Below $600, say the same prices as the discless and the disc ps5, the success will continue next gen

It's a fact that console hardware sales are on a notable decline amongst younger gamers.

Younger Americans Have Spent 25% Less On Video Games This Year Than Last - IGN

Younger Americans are spending 25% less on video games today than this time last year, according to a new report.

www.ign.com

Economic factors such as inflation are accelerating it.

Younger Americans are spending 25% less on video games today than this time last year.


That's according to a report by The Wall Street Journal, which used data from market research company Circana to analyze the spending habits of young Americans.

While spending was down 13% across the board from January to April 2025 for 18- to 24-year-olds — particularly on accessories, technology, and furniture, which fell by 18%, 14%, and 12%, respectively — video game spending saw the largest fall. This is not a trend observed in older age groups.

I guess you think because people anticipated the decline of console gaming for technical reasons like cloud gaming and shouted about it for over a decade it can't happen. Sony's record revenue isn't coming from a growing install base on their consoles it's coming from high prices on their hardware. They've expanded into putting their games on PC because hardware sales really stall hard after crossing 100 million. Half their user base 5 years into PS5 are still on PS4 and they aren't completely transitioning away from PS4.

 

[Deep_Black_Conscious]

It's a fact that console hardware sales are on a notable decline amongst younger gamers.

Younger Americans Have Spent 25% Less On Video Games This Year Than Last - IGN

Younger Americans are spending 25% less on video games today than this time last year, according to a new report.

www.ign.com

Economic factors such as inflation are accelerating it.

I guess you think because people anticipated the decline of console gaming for technical reasons like cloud gaming and shouted about it for over a decade it can't happen. Sony's record revenue isn't coming from a growing install base on their consoles it's coming from high prices on their hardware. They've expanded into putting their games on PC because hardware sales really stall hard after crossing 100 million. Half their user base 5 years into PS5 are still on PS4 and they aren't completely transitioning away from PS4.

Yet the ps5 is on pace to sell as well or better than the ps4 in the same amount of time. The ps5 could have been the quickest and best selling playstation console but was slowed down by COVID and no price cuts. Despite no price cuts and being at $500 these past 5 years before the price bump, the ps5 still sold well. The switch could end up outselling the ps2 at some point. The switch 2 sells very well. The sales numbers contradict what you're posting. Any customers who stopped buying consoles were replaced by new customers with room to grow due to gaming never being this popular before and continuing to grow.

You also didn't provide context, such as the tariffs and products being expensive compared to before, a recent occurrence, obviously resulting in people, especially younger people who tend to be broke compared to older people,, not wanting to spend. The article also states areas other than video games younger people are not spending, After the tariffs are gone and prices stabilize, people are going to start spending again due to products being cheaper.

The alleged console gaming decline only applies to xbox at this point. Now suppose Sony priced the ps6 at $600 or above and games were $80, then console gaming would decline because of pricing, with possibly only Nintendo being unaffected unless they bumped the switch 2 price, yet the way their games being priced at $80 affect game sales remain to be seen. With reasonable pricing, sales numbers at this point show console gaming is not declining, except for the xbox.