Switch 2 is the second fastest-selling console in US history as PlayStation and Xbox post their worst May numbers in decades

Nintendo's Switch 2 has become the second fastest-selling console in US history, moving 5.9 million units in its first 12 months on sale in the US. The only console to outsell it over a comparable launch window is Nintendo's own Game Boy Advance, which shifted 6.5 million units in its first year back in 2001. The figures come from Circana's May 2026 report, which also named Switch 2 the best-selling console in the US for May and credited it as the main reason year-on-year hardware spending rose by more than a third.

The rest of the report is grim. PS5 sales dropped 58 percent year-on-year — driven, Circana says, by recent price increases — hitting their lowest May total since 2000. Xbox hardware fell 12 percent, which sounds manageable until you learn the actual unit count was the lowest ever recorded for an Xbox in May. The average price paid for new console hardware climbed to $502 in May 2026, up from $440 a year earlier. PS5 pricing specifically jumped 33 percent to $672, while Xbox Series X/S pricing rose 22 percent to $524. Sony raised PS5 prices in March, Nintendo is raising Switch 2 prices later this year, and Microsoft pushed Xbox prices up again just this week.

The underlying cause is a component shortage driven by AI datacentre demand consuming memory and silicon at a pace the consumer electronics market can't compete with. RAM prices have been climbing steeply, and Microsoft has already warned it expects component costs to roughly double again by autumn 2027 — which points directly at further price hikes or eye-watering launch prices for next-generation hardware. Valve's Steam Machine arrived at a $1,000 base price and Valve itself admitted that was significantly higher than planned. As one industry analysis put it, never before in a console generation have prices risen like this post-launch.

The big wildcard is GTA 6, due November 19th. Rockstar's game has the kind of cultural gravity that moves hardware, but at least one major retailer has already warned there may not be enough console stock to meet demand over the holiday season — a supply crunch on top of prices that are already pushing buyers away.