Data from GSD shows that just under 80 million PC and console games were sold across Europe in the first six months of 2024.
That’s a 1.6% drop in sales compared to the start of 2023, a strong result considering the relatively weak release slate for the first half of this year compared to last year. The first half of 2023 saw major releases including Hogwarts Legacy, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Diablo IV, and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.
For comparison, only two of the top ten best-selling games of 2024 (so far) have been released in 2024. Helldivers 2 (at #2) and The Last of Us: Part 2 Remastered (at #10).
Note: There is no data from Palworld, which would likely have been a major seller as well.
Many of these games had a lower retail price compared to last year’s AAA releases, so revenues will have been down significantly. Looking at the UK market in particular, ERA says that revenues from games fell by 30% in the first half of the year.
In terms of European game sales in June, 11.3 million video games were sold last month, which is a decrease of 19%. June last year was a particularly big month for video games, with major releases such as Diablo 4 and Final Fantasy 16. There was no major standalone release this year.
A positive comparison with last June comes in the form of the football game. EA Sports FC24 was No. 1 in June, with sales 7% higher than FIFA 24 achieved in the same period. This year’s game will have benefited from the European Championship, which took place in Germany in June and July.
Elden Ring jumped to second place, enjoying a huge sales boost thanks to new DLC: Shadow of the Erdtree. Month-over-month sales of the base game increased by 454%.
The highest-charting new game was Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD (counting only physical sales, not digital). It just missed out on the fastest-selling Nintendo Switch game this year, selling just 4,000 units. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door beat it out, but it was beaten by Princess Peach Showtime and Mario vs Donkey Kong. In terms of launch sales, it managed just under a third of what Luigi’s Mansion 3 did in its opening week of 2019.
GSD data tracks physical sales in all major European markets and digital sales from most major publishers in all European markets. The largest missing company in the digital data is Nintendo.
Console market struggles with difficult comparisons
In the markets tracked (with missing countries including Germany and the UK. UK data available here ), just over 300,000 games consoles were sold across Europe in June. Compared to the same four-week period in 2023, that’s a 24% decline. All three platforms are down, though the PS5 is proving the most resilient, with sales down 10% year-on-year in June.
The gaming console hardware market has fallen 24% in the first six months of the year with 2.2 million units sold. The PS5 is down 16%, the Switch is down 32% and the Xbox Series S and X are down 37%. The console market is struggling when you compare it to the strong numbers from 2023, a weaker software lineup and the aging Nintendo Switch platform.
In terms of accessories and peripherals, 1.1 million products were sold in June in the European markets tracked. For the same four-week period in 2023, sales are down 7.3%. The market was boosted by the DualSense controller, which was sold at a discount in stores during the month.
Eight million accessories were sold in the first six months of the year, a decrease of 8.4% compared to 2023.
European GSD H1 2024 Top 10 (Digital + Physical)
| Position | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 | EA Sport FC 24 (EA) |
| 2 | Helldivers 2 (Sony) |
| 3 | Grand Theft Auto 5 (Rockstar) |
| 4 | Hogwarts Legacy (Warner Bros) |
| 5 | Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rock Star) |
| 6 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Activision Blizzard) |
| 7 | Fallout 4 (Bethesda) |
| 8 | It takes two (EA) |
| 9 | Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege (Ubisoft) |
| 10 | The Last of Us Part 2: Remastered (Sony) |
* Digital data not available
European GSD June 2024 Top 10 (digital + physical)
| Position | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 | EA Sport FC 24 (EA) |
| 2 | Elden Ring (Bandai Namco) |
| 3 | Grand Theft Auto 5 (Rockstar) |
| 4 | Sid Meier’s Civilization VI (2K Games) |
| 5 | Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rock Star) |
| 6 | Hogwarts Legacy (Warner Bros) |
| 7 | Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD (Nintendo)* |
| 8 | F1 24 (EA) |
| 9 | Grand Theft Auto Online (Rockstar) |
| 10 | NBA 2K24 (2K Games) |
* Digital data not available
GSD digital data includes games from participating companies that are sold on Steam, Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, Nintendo Eshop. Notable participating companies include Activision Blizzard, Bandai Namco, Capcom, Codemasters, Electronic Arts, Embracer Group (including Gearbox, Koch Media, Sabre Interactive), Focus Entertainment, Konami, Marvellous Games, Microids, Microsoft (including Bethesda), Milestone, Nacon, Paradox Interactive, Quantic Dream, Sega, Sony, Square Enix, Take-Two, Tencent, Ubisoft, and Warner Bros.; Nintendo and 505 Games are notable absent, along with a number of smaller studios.
Digital data includes games sold in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.
The physical data includes all games, but only those sold in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
Console hardware sales include Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Accessories sales include the same markets, but exclude Switzerland.