Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom blamed for 40% drop in US hardware sales this year

Spending on video game hardware in the United States was down 40% in May compared to 2023, figures firm Circana reports.

Sales of the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S all saw “double-digit percentage declines year-over-year” when comparing figures through May, with “the Switch showing the most significant decline,” according to company CEO and industry analyst Mat Piscatella.

The PlayStation 5 was the best-selling console in both units and dollars in May, with unit sales of the console outpacing those of the PlayStation 4 by 8%.

The decline isn’t just in hardware sales. Spending on gaming “content”—that is, games, in-game currency, and items—also fell 3% from last year. Meanwhile, spending on gaming accessories also fell 8% from last year. PlayStation Portal was the top-selling accessory in May.

Ghost of Tsushima was the best-selling game in the United States in May. Previously a PlayStation console exclusive, its PC port launched and quickly became PlayStation’s biggest single-player PC launch in terms of concurrent players.

Fortnite has maintained its popularity, with the free-to-play game boasting the highest number of active users on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S in May. A recent study highlighted the prevalence of free-to-play games and their staying power, with these new sales figures proving their continued popularity over new full releases.

“Total planned spending in the U.S. on video game hardware, content and accessories fell six percent in May 2024 compared to a year ago,” Piscatella said.

According to Piscatella, this annual decline can be attributed – at least in part – to the arrival last year of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, which is due out on Nintendo Switch in May 2023.

Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft are all set to launch new hardware in the not-too-distant future.

Last month, Microsoft unveiled three new variants of Xbox consoles with increased storage capacity, which will be available later this year in select markets. Sony is also reportedly planning to release a PS5 “Pro” console, which will run games at 60 frames per second with ray tracing.

Meanwhile, Nintendo has said it will announce the Switch’s successor — dubbed Switch 2 — later this fiscal year, before March 31, 2025. It’s actually expected to release sometime in 2025.

Each platform also has a number of bigger video game releases coming this year, with titles like Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom coming to Switch in September, Astro Bot coming to PS5 also in September, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle slated for release in 2024 on Xbox and PC.