As Xbox and PlayStation sales reach new lows, analyst says the "US hardware market has not been in a more precarious position since the early 80s"

PS5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles are more expensive than ever in most markets, thanks largely to memory components being gobbled up by AI data centres. Now, analyst Mat Piscatella worries the console market, at least in the US, hasn't looked this dire since the early 1980s, which was maybe not-so-coincidentally when the industry absolutely collapsed.

Circana's Piscatella recently jumped online to reveal that Xbox and PS5 price hikes caused a big blow to sales, somewhat unsurprisingly. Xbox hardware sales are reportedly down 33% "versus a year ago in the US, while PlayStation hardware units are…