There’s growing concern and conversation about the future of gaming as it pertains to where players play their favorite titles. Xbox and Microsoft are betting that the Cloud is the future; meanwhile, Sony is still, alongside Nintendo, firmly in the console space, even as PC hardware moves towards handheld and increasingly takes up space in the ecosystem.

All of this is to say that many who love to predict the future believe the console gaming market may be on its way out. However, some recent data shared by the Executive Director & Video Game Industry Advisor at Circana, Mat Piscatella, indicates that those who see the end for console gaming growing near are likely reading the wrong tea leaves.

According to Mat Piscatella on Twitter, the PS5 is still 7% ahead LTD (“life-to-date”) on sales compared to the PS4. Sony’s most popular console and the best-selling hardware of all time, the PS2, only holds a 1.1M unit lead on the Nintendo Switch. Piscatella added that even the Xbox Series X and S consoles are tracking alongside the Xbox 360’s sales at this point in its cycle. His final point was simple, pointing out that “No, the console market isn’t doomed.” Piscatella also notes that the sales of EA Sports College Football 25 are likely going to push console sales numbers up for July.

So what does all of this mean? In my estimation, we’re likely not seeing some major dip in console gaming interest simply because more and more folks are moving to PC or handheld PC devices like the ROG Ally and the Steam Deck. Instead, we’re seeing more people play video games than ever before.

Between the rise of MMOs, increased popularity in Twitch and other streaming platforms, as well as some truly great games released every year, the industry is huge and still growing. We may not be at sales levels akin to 2020 and 2021 when the COVID-19 pandemic kept people home seeking entertainment, but we are far from a point where consoles are going to simply become obsolete.

One particularly interesting thing we haven’t seen with the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S generation of consoles is a price decrease. Both console makers have digital-only versions of their hardware, but neither those models nor the full-fledged disk versions have seen a price decrease since launching in 2020. Could this holiday season be the first time we see even a $50 dip in the asking price? It’s hard to say. With Microsoft and Sony reporting drops in console sales YTD this past quarter and Nintendo pushing as many Switch consoles as possible to make room for its successor, this holiday season could bring the price decrease players are seeking.

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