Circana Data Shows Fewer Young Adults Are Purchasing Video Game Consoles - Sales
by William D'Angelo , posted on 05 September 2025 / 10,557 Views
Circana Executive Director and Video Game Industry Analyst Mat Piscatella has revealed some worrying trends about the video game console market in the US in recent years.
The number of young adults (18-24-year-olds) purchasing video game consoles has dropped from 10 percent in the 12-month period ending July 2022 down to just three percent for the 12-month period ending July 2025.
"From Circana's Checkout service: $100K+ income households now account for 43% of US video game hardware purchases, up from 36% just a few years ago," said Piscatella.
"18–24-year-olds accounted for only 3% VG hardware purchases during the 12-months ending July 2025, down from 10% during the 12 months ending July 2022."
Also higher income households - Over $100,000 - now account for 43 percent of video game console sales in the US. This is up from 36 percent a few years ago.
This data was posted in response to an opinion piece written by Rob Fahey on GamesIndustry about the price of video game consoles being an issue.
Fahey stated "if today's kids and teens aren't engaging with PlayStation, it's very unlikely they'll start doing so as twenty-somethings or thirty-somethings." Piscatella agreed with Fahey. "We're seeing signs of this happening right now."
Piscatella doesn't think video game consoles are going anywhere, however, he sees them becoming more like hybrid devices.
"Consoles aren't going anywhere, "he stated. "Parts of the audience will always want the shiny new box to play games on their shiny new TVs.
"Consoles will likely start leaning towards being hybrid devices, and likely be more enthusiast-focused (and expensive) to best meet the wants/needs of that audience."
In previous video game generations the price of hardware would come down over time, however, this generation has seen the opposite happen.
Sony Interactive Entertainment increased the price of the PS5 in the US late last month by $50 for all three models. Sony also increased the price of the PS5 in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand in April of this year.
Nintendo increased the price of the original Nintendo Switch in the US and Canada in early August by up to $50. Microsoft increased the price of the Xbox Series X and S in May by $80 for the Xbox Series S and $100 for the Xbox Series X in the US.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can follow the author on Bluesky.
More Articles
Time to start subsiding hardware costs again. If you want to have an audience in 10-15 years.
Also crazy that we live in a time when all console makers enjoy a HUGE profit of digital sales that they never enjoyed in earlier generations, yet still don't want to see the consoles at a loss or break even point...
In years past, if a game sold at $50 in retail, Sony/Nintendo/Microsoft probably only saw ~$6 (30% of sale, after manufacturing costs, after retailer cut). Now, if a $70 game sells digitally, they get $21 (straight 30% x price of game, since there is no middleman and no manufacturing costs). Yet, here we are...
Seeing first hand capitalism taking over in the worst way possible. Once something takes hold, it’s a domino effect, and there is no going back.
At least in the United States I blame the Henry Ford vs Dodge Brothers 1919 court case. To sum it up Ford wanted to sell cars cheaper, expand the Ford Motor Company, and give employees higher wages. To do this they lowered and stopped paying dividends to shareholders. The Dodge Brothers (small shareholder) sued and won. The case concluded that corporations first and foremost are for the profits of its shareholders, known as Shareholder Primacy.
Take this information as you will.
"no manufacturing costs"
Yes but the development costs have sky rocketed in the last 15 years. Games take more people a longer amount of time to make and sell for less money (once you adjust for inflation).
Exactly, Sony just announced that their gaming division has made more PROFITs under PlayStation 5's first 4 years, as in the money that Sony keeps, than in ALL THE PAST PLAYSTATION's YEARS COMBINED. From 1995-2020.
Hear hear!! I don't really see much need for consoles to push for better graphics anymore, so not pushing for better graphics so much could help.
The same holds true for games.... they have ballooned the costs of development to a extreme, for AAA games. Its just not needed. Devs need to learn to scope things so they can run on multiple systems, not take up a entire ssd drive in space, and cost a fortune/take forever to make. Too many open world games, too many buggy launches relying on day1 patches ect.
Yeah at the level the consoles are at now, there' s not much improvement to be made. Every console gen is getting smaller and smaller noticeable improvements graphically. Last gen already looked very realistic, this gen looks hyper realistic. I think last gen to this gen was the last even decent generational jump we'll see. Nintendo can still probably make one more big jump since it's a handheld, and the Switch to Switch 2 was the biggest jump in a long time cuz it basically went from PS3+ to PS4 Pro+ output.
Considering the very much diminishing returns on tech upgrades these days, it'd be nice if they started competing on price again (the normal way, rather than competing on who can have the most outrageous prices).
They're too greedy and stupid to do the logical thing.
yep, pretty clear that younger people aren't gonna be buying as many systems when they are just trying to get started in careers or working through low paid jobs while they figure out what they want to do professionally and don't have the money for $500-$700 systems plus games.
Systems used to be $200-$300, and would get cheaper as they age, now they start off $400-$500+ and only get more expensive even as they age and get cheaper to produce. Meanwhile, the huge studios who bring in hundreds of millions of dollars in profit on every AAA game they make tell us that this isn't enough and they need to increase prices of games by $10-$20, even as they spend less on shipping games to stores as many games are sold digitally.
The hobby is too expensive. Maybe kids/teenagers prefer mobile gaming now? Someone can let me know.
younger gen z were raised on roblox and minecraft. that's what gaming is to them. But that isn't to say their habits won't change when they get older. When they turn 40 they could very well be the ones only buying the latest sports game and call of duty in the future themselves.
It's cheaper than most console generations adjusted to inflation. The price of everything from housing, cars, food, etc just went up, leaving less money for gaming. Edit not sure how that is even remotely controversial to get downvotes. The NES was $576 adjusted for inflation, Atari 2600 is $1,020 adjusted, PS2 and the original Xbox were both over $500 adjusted to inflation. N64, SNES, Genesis games were all $100+ adjusted for inflation. PS5 games went up 16.6% from the PS4, food is up 25.66% from 5 years ago not even counting shrinkflation, Houses cost 50% or more in some ares.
$500 PS2 is still cheaper than some of our console options, also disposable income was better in relation to the price of consoles + lets not forget that games weren't rammed up the ass with MTX.
After 4 years on the market, the PS2 was $150, or $256 adjusted for inflation. Something doesn’t add up in your argument almost 5 years into the PS5’s lifecycle.
This! PS2 went really cheap.... not sure if it hit 99$ but probably not much over that.
That is when it becomes something everyone can easily afford.
We need to see PS6 launch at like 500$ and drop down to 300$ towards the end of the gen like in the old days. That is what we need. This BS of them going up in price over the gen is not great.
Gamecube hit $99 USD at one point.
PS2 went as low as $129.
Original Xbox went for $149 4 and a half years after launch.
Xbox 360 went for $199 4 and a half years after launch.
Xbox One went for $199 4 and a half years after launch. (That's $241 adjusted for inflation!)
SNES went for $100.
They all got cheap as chips and was always a good entry for those who were financially not in the best of positions.
As for inflation... I doubt people incomes have actually increased at the same rate, meaning less coin available to spend.
Inflation is just a devaluing of currency due to an over-abundance of supply, but if it's only the top 10% of earners who have that extra supply, it just means everyone else is doing it harder as incomes haven't kept pace.
Wait, making gaming more and more expensive means young adults (the poorest generation of young adults in recent history) are buying less consoles? colour me surprised.
Its just example of how wages have not keep up with infation.
Gen Z (in U.S.A.) is also purchasing homes are a far lower rate, consuming significantly less alcohol, not eating out nearly as often, opting out of marriage (with the leading motivator being that it is not economically sensible), and—overall—spend far less on non-essentials than all other generations.
It’s very simple what’s going on here: young Americans are strapped on cash in an increasingly disparate economy.
Well duh. How do they expect someone just out of uni, or still in education, to be able to afford a £500 console when they can barely afford rent?
I'm not a young adult anymore, but I've mostly given up on owning a house. -_-
Millennials and Gen Z won't believe this one trick I have for saving money... don't have a life or drive!
:-P
I'm 34.
Your not alone (i'm in my early 40's).... I don't think I even have 50k to my name. I'm saving up for it still (a house)... so maybe at some point (feel like I'm about halfways there). Maybe I go for a home owned apartment instead... a house is a huge investment for me.
A lot of them are not even going to unit because of the cost. And they're still not making ends meet.
How many of those gen z and millennial buy the latest iPhone or Samsung, buy coffees at a cafe, have multiple subscriptions for movies and TV series, eat at a cafe , buy avocados, got o clubs to drink or buy alcohol for home . Most will either do one of them , some of the above or all of them. These above luxuries do cost alot of money and make saving for a house a hard thing..
Then the next generation of gaming hardware needs to be made cheaper.
Consoles always went down in price by this time in a generation. Not anymore. No such thing as affording consoles. There are other alternatives for gaming these days.
That kind of a weird metric to track. How many in that age group have $550 or more to buy just a console? Gaming is becoming a very expensive enthusiasts hobby again.
A lot of them grew up mostly playing just three games: Roblox, Minecraft, and Fortnite.
Yeah this checks out to my personal experience. A lot of youngers gens i know either pc game or dont really game at all.
Thats what happens when you continue to raise prices.
The money’s still there-It’s just the super rich corporations have taken it away from the middle and lower classes over the years.
The United States has long been one of the few countries where mobile games did not account for more than 80% of the gaming market. However, with rising hardware costs and tariffs, that may change in the future.
The games suck and the hardware is expensive.
Modern generation don't have the attention span likehow the older generation do. If it's not fast and flashy they get bored
At some point you could get a PS, PS2, GameCube or Wii for 99 $. That's how you got the 18-24-year-olds and not with 499 $ consoles. Just a coherence.
The PS, PS2, and Gamecube were also more or less straight up game machines without all the bells and whistles people claim to want from consoles. I mean, the PS2 could play DVDs, but I doubt that it cost Sony much to add DVD functionality, certainly not compared to the media options people demand that they stuff into those systems today.
steam
We're just going full circle. People these days think the SNES and Genesis were mainstream. They weren't. They were hobbyist devices. Perhaps the industry is just going to contract.
For the time, they were as mainstream as it got for gaming. Most PCs of the time couldn't play games worth shit.
They really (being mainstream) weren't, though. The market was tiny. And gaming was considered something niche. It was for kids and nerds and no one else. It wasn't until the PS1 that that started to change.
When you get movies based on games they hit mainstream and SF,Double Dragon, Super Mario got them. Also early 90s Mario became more popular than Mickey Mouse. Sonic was hitting Macy's parades in the early 90s. We had cartoons based on games and a ton of merch. It wasn't exactly underground like the Atari era.
