GSD European sales February 2024 - Helldivers 2 #1, FF7 Rebirth #3, Skull and Bones #9

[Astrogamer]

European game sales strong in February thanks to Helldivers 2 | European Monthly Charts

Helldivers shines, but tough launches for Skull and Bones and Suicide Squad

www.gamesindustry.biz

Software sales were 16.74 million, up 21.2% for February but down .1% when aligned to a 5-week period. Hardware sales were 474,469. This is up 11% but down 14% when aligned to a 5-week period. Accessories moved 1.6 million products, led by the PS5 DualSense and Xbox Wireless controllers.

Helldivers II had its sales split 56% towards PC. The game had a 70% bigger second week and a 3% bigger week with a fall of -28% in week 4. Overall, it's sales are tracking 5% behind Spider-Man 2. Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth is the second new release at no. 3 in the chart, down 23% from Remake but up 4% over Final Fantasy 16. The dual pack with Remake boosted the first game to No. 39.

The third new game is Skull and Bones from Ubisoft at No. 9. It is down 30% from the similar Sea of Thieves over a three week launch period. Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League missed the top at No. 12. It is down 33% from Gotham Knights and 61% from Guardians of the Galaxy. The remaining new titles in the top 20 are Mario vs Donkey Kong, at No.15, and Pacific Drive comes, at No.18

In terms of hardware, all three main platforms dropped from last February. PS5 only dropped 2%. The Switch dropped 7% and the Xbox Series platforms dropped 47%.

European GSD Febuary 2024 Top 10 (Digital + Physical)​

Title	Publisher
Helldivers 2	Sony
EA Sports FC 24	EA
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth	Square Enix
Grand Theft Auto 5	Rockstar
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3	Activision Blizzard
Red Dead Redemption 2	Rockstar
Hogwarts Legacy	Warner Bros.
It Takes Two	EA
Skull and Bones	Ubisoft
Need for Speed: Heat	EA

February 2023
January 2024

 

[GamingCJ]

47% decline is brutal for Xbox.

PS5 being almost flat against their huge February 2023, when they started flooding the market, is great to see.

 

[Jbone916]

So when adjusting for last Feb being 4 weeks and this Feb being 5 weeks, the console drops are likely a good bit steeper than they appear.

Edit: Nevermind, I misunderstood the article - the % drops are already adjusted.

 

[Person]

47% drop for Xbox is horrible and it's hard for me to believe their strategy shift isn't partly responsible.

 

[Evilms]

It's worrying for Xbox in Europe.

 

[Astrogamer]

So when adjusting for last Feb being 4 weeks and this Feb being 5 weeks, the console drops are likely a good bit steeper than they appear.

The percentages have to be for the equivalent 5-week period of 2023 since they can't all be down if February is up.

 

[chroeser]

So when adjusting for last Feb being 4 weeks and this Feb being 5 weeks, the console drops are likely a good bit steeper than they appear.

„Hardware sales were 474,469. This is up 11% but down 14% when aligned to a 5-week period.“
So the numbers should already be adjusted.

 

[derby_440]

Hardware sales February 2023

"PS5 was comfortably the best-selling console across tracked European markets, with sales more than double Nintendo Switch in second place. Switch sales are down 28% across Europe, mirroring a similar decline in the UK. Nintendo's next big push around Switch is in the second quarter of the year, with activity planned around the new Zelda game and Mario movie."

February 2024 hardware sales:

"But for the territories that are included, 474,469 games consoles were sold across Europe in February.

Technically, this is 11% up over the year before, but again this is due to the five week vs four week periods. If we compare the five weeks of February 2024 with the same five weeks in 2023, the actual sales are down 14%.

All three main platforms posted sales drops in February. PS5 is most resilient, with sales down just 2% year-on-year, Switch – which has just turned seven years old– is down 17%, while Xbox continues to struggle with Series S and X sales down 47%."


Feb 2023 4 weeks 430k.
Feb 2024 4 weeks 370k.

estimates for only 4 weeks.

Feb 2023:
PS5: 250K
NSW: 120K
XBS: 60K

Feb 2024:
PS5: 240K
NSW: 100K
XBS: 30K

With 5 weeks Feb 2024

PS5: 300K
NSW: 135K
XBS: 35K

 

[Jbone916]

The percentages have to be for the equivalent 5-week period of 2023 since they can't all be down if February is up.

„Hardware sales were 474,469. This is up 11% but down 14% when aligned to a 5-week period.“
So the numbers should already be adjusted.

Thanks, I don’t know how I missed that.

So actually this is fantastic for PS5 and pretty solid for Switch imo.

 

[Kmds]

PS5 is doing well and Switch is doing really well for being only 17% down in its 7th year.

Xbox is just sad face now.

 

[GamingCJ]

Hardware sales February 2023

"PS5 was comfortably the best-selling console across tracked European markets, with sales more than double Nintendo Switch in second place. Switch sales are down 28% across Europe, mirroring a similar decline in the UK. Nintendo's next big push around Switch is in the second quarter of the year, with activity planned around the new Zelda game and Mario movie."

February 2024 hardware sales:

"But for the territories that are included, 474,469 games consoles were sold across Europe in February.

Technically, this is 11% up over the year before, but again this is due to the five week vs four week periods. If we compare the five weeks of February 2024 with the same five weeks in 2023, the actual sales are down 14%.

All three main platforms posted sales drops in February. PS5 is most resilient, with sales down just 2% year-on-year, Switch – which has just turned seven years old– is down 17%, while Xbox continues to struggle with Series S and X sales down 47%."


Feb 2023 4 weeks 430k.
Feb 2024 4 weeks 370k.

estimates for only 4 weeks.

Feb 2023:
PS5: 250K
NSW: 120K
XBS: 60K

Feb 2024:
PS5: 240K
NSW: 100K
XBS: 30K

With 5 weeks Feb 2024

PS5: 300K
NSW: 135K
XBS: 35K

Since we are using these numbers for later months just a small correction:
PS5 being down 2% would make 245k.

 

[StrazakGoz]

Damn, anyone has the data showing how many units in the same period of the generation Xbox One was doing?

 

[Butzke]

What an epic hold for PS5 after last years spike.

 

[RPG_Fanatic]

Xbox being 3rd place and having the biggest YoY drop is already bad enough, but seeing those estimated numbers really shows how badly Xbox is doing in Europe right now.

 

[chroeser]

Today I was „shopping“ in Dresden (Capital of Saxony, Germany, >500k citizens). Over the course of 3 hours I casually visited a Saturn, a Media Markt (big electronic retailers), Müller (medium miscellaneous retailer) and a GameStop. The only store even having a section for XBOX games was GameStop. The others didn’t have any games or consoles in stock only some controllers and Gift Cards.

PS and Nintendo had big section in the stores and most importantly ads!

The first thing I saw in all stores was a Rise of the Ronin banner and a generic PS5 ad. Nintendo had a Princess Peach ad.

So those XBox sales are not surprising.

 

[Jin+Jang]

Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth is the second new release at no. 3 in the chart, down 23% from Remake but up 4% over Final Fantasy 16. The dual pack with Remake boosted the first game to No. 39.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth with just few days of tracking ended 3rd. This is awesome.

Feb 2023 4 weeks 430k.
Feb 2024 4 weeks 370k.

estimates for only 4 weeks.

Feb 2023:
PS5: 250K
NSW: 120K
XBS: 60K

Feb 2024:
PS5: 240K
NSW: 100K
XBS: 30K

With 5 weeks Feb 2024

PS5: 300K
NSW: 135K
XBS: 35K

Xbox sales totally collapsed in Europe.

 

[Lelouch0612]

Good PS5/Switch holds.

No way to sugarcoat them, the Xbox hardware sales are awful.

 

[Astral_lion02]

Maybe the mess about Xbox rumors in february lead to this big decrease.

Because 47% is even worse than usual.

 

[Kowalski]

Pretty impressive hold for PS5 with how huge it was last year!
Switch has also shown good hold for a device of its age.
XBS...oh well

 

[BananaPeel]

Hogwarts Legacy holding in the top 10 a year later. Such an incredible run for an incredible game in an incredible series. Very very proud of Avalanche. Wish I could be proud of WB games but they are clearly taking the wrong lesson here as per their latest statements. Hopefully they don’t muck up the inevitable sequel however !

 

[Xevross]

Great hardware for Ps5 and good for Switch. Xbox is absolutely atrocious.

Amazing numbers for Helldivers, 5% behind Spidey and probably will be ahead after the next week is counted with how much momentum it had.

 

[enpleinjour]

This was a 5 week month so the real demand drops are:

• PS5 -20%
• XBS -60%
• NSW -25%

EU EoY 2023 estimates were:

• PS5: 4.6M
• NSW : 2.25M
• XBS : 0.55M

Holidays tend to have smaller drops than the prior monthly's so I reckon yearly drops right now are like -15% PS, -15-20% NSW, -40-50% XBS.

 

[opaidiota]

Xbox with these numbers + the apparently real PlayStation 5 Pro, there is a possibility that GTA VI will be heavily associated with PlayStation next year.

I imagine the marketing deal is with PlayStation, so the association will be even bigger.

 

[Belthazar]

Xbox falling off a cliff in Europe... And I didn't even think there was a cliff to fall from to begin with.

 

[Djehuty]

Xbox being 3rd place and having the biggest YoY drop is already bad enough, but seeing those estimated numbers really shows how badly Xbox is doing in Europe right now.

it really feels like the market was always a two console one but either nintendo or playstation botched a console so it was really only 2 per gen (until the last minute ps3 save, but by that time the wii was dead in the water)

when faced with real competition they are just falling apart.

 

[awng782]

Goddamn that Xbox decline is absolutely brutal.

 

[Belthazar]

Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth is the second new release at no. 3 in the chart, down 23% from Remake but up 4% over Final Fantasy 16. The dual pack with Remake boosted the first game to No. 39.

23% down from Remake with only a few days is actually not that bad, considering Remake had almost the entire month.

 

[MegaXZero]

23% down from Remake with only a few days is actually not that bad, considering Remake had almost the entire month.

It’s comparing launch week not first monthly report.

Despite a strong critical reception, the second part in the Final Fantasy VII remake trilogy didn't match the performance of the first game, with opening week sales down 23% over its predecessor

 

[The Hunter]

with these numbers no wonder xbox is going third party with their games

 

[Belthazar]

It’s comparing launch week not first monthly report.

Well, it is bad then.

 

[chroeser]

This was a 5 week month so the real demand drops are:

• PS5 -20%
• XBS -60%
• NSW -25%

EU EoY 2023 estimates were:

• PS5: 4.6M
• NSW : 2.25M
• XBS : 0.55M

Holidays tend to have smaller drops than the prior monthly's so I reckon yearly drops right now are like -15% PS, -15-20% NSW, -40-50% XBS.

„Hardware sales were 474,469. This is up 11% but down 14% when aligned to a 5-week period“
The numbers in the OP should already be adjusted for the number of weeks. One won’t get to +14% when using -2%, -7% and -47%. So this figures must be for the 5 week period.

 

[Jin+Jang]

It’s comparing launch week not first monthly report.

Well, it is bad then.

How it can have more days of tracking if game was officially released during the last day in Feb ( did GSD included 2 days from March??) That's not possible at all. Maybe 2 days because those who preordered it, they've received a copy day early. And i'm sure GSD doesn't track sales of some retailer who broke the embargo of release date for few days.

 

[Decoyman]

How it can have more days of tracking if game was officially released during the last day in Feb ( did GSD included 2 days from March??) That's not possible at all. Maybe 2 days because those who preordered it, they've received a copy day early. And i'm sure GSD doesn't track sales of some retailer who broke the embargo of release date for few days.

GSD tracked five weeks of retail this February period. When Rebirth is being compared to XVI and 7R, they're comparing their opening weeks.

 

[Deckard Cain]

Not surprised to see Xbox hardware crater. I expect the same in the US.

Will we end up seeing a collapse so catastrophic they back out of their plans for next generation hardware?

 

[MarcoP90]

How it can have more days of tracking if game was officially released during the last day in Feb ( did GSD included 2 days from March??) That's not possible at all. Maybe 2 days because those who preordered it, they've received a copy day early. And i'm sure GSD doesn't track sales of some retailer who broke the embargo of release date for few days.

I mean...yes. GSD's report for February 2024 is based on the sales from Week 5, 2024 (the seven days between January 29th and February 4th) to Week 9, 2024 (the seven days between February 26th to March 3rd), so it does feature the first few days of March as well.
In general, monthly reports such as the ones provided by GSD or Circana are based on the sales that have been recorded in full weeks and therefore, depending on when the days of the month of reference fall, it is highly possible that days that are outside of that specific month are included.

 

[Danny]

47% drop for Xbox is horrible and it's hard for me to believe their strategy shift isn't partly responsible.

Nothing about that. Xbox being dead outside the US is one of the major reasons people think Microsoft can't keep this platform viable without changes. Decades after the first Xbox its still a console only popular in the US market.

Gamepass has done next to nothing to make the console attractive in places its unpopular. And that was their huge gamble, now they have next to no solutions.

 

[Quinton]

Frankly, at this point Square Enix might be relieved that FF7 Rebirth is at least a little higher than FFXVI in several markets that don’t rhyme with “the pan.”

 

[Danny]

Not surprised to see Xbox hardware crater. I expect the same in the US.

Will we end up seeing a collapse so catastrophic they back out of their plans for next generation hardware?

Decline accelerates, Xbox was already declining heavily last year, so its natural that the decline accelerates this year.

In fact the whole internal discussion about multiplatform releases is because Microsoft and their Xbox team themselves are tracking demand for the system and saw the demand was declining massively, that is probably what got them starting talking about multiplatform releases in the first place.

They have a platform that only has significant market shares in very few markets, that can't be combined with AAA gaming experiences, especially if you want to make AAA games for a subscription service that can't become larger than a few tens of millions of users because they can't get this hardware into people's homes anyway.

I can't see how a platform that is viewed unattractive by a huge majority of console gamers can continue to have a seperate eco system, Microsoft want to make money out of their involvement in gaming, not to please the few Xbox fans there are.

End point; Gamepass failed, it didn't lead to them being a credible rival to PS5, in fact since gamepass was created Playstation has never been so dominant against Xbox, so getting their games to the attractive Playstation ecosystem must be something Microsoft higher ups have a bigger and bigger interest in, especially as they see Xbox collapsing ever harder in markets outside the US.

I can't see the justification to make a new Xbox console in a few years when Playstation 5 by then will have proven to have sold many times over Xbox in every market outside the US, and even in the US the gap is widening between the consoles. The numbers just don't justify Xbox continuation, better just move the Microsoft gaming business into new avenues of growth.

 

[allan-bh]

I can't see the justification to make a new Xbox console in a few years when Playstation 5 by then will have proven to have sold many times over Xbox in every market outside the US, and even in the US the gap is widening between the consoles. The numbers just don't justify Xbox continuation, better just move the Microsoft gaming business into new avenues of growth.

Microsoft has more than 30 million gamepass subscribers with the biggest amount being on Xbox, if they don't launch a new console they will lose the revenue from this.

Doesn't make sense for Microsoft not having a new generation, unless they drastic change their approach and gave up of gamepass, or unlikely convince Sony to allow GP on Playstation.

 

[Turin]

Currently the XBOX brand reminds me a little of the situation that the 3DS went through. Higher expectations and a harsh reality check.

3DS sold 75 million, Xbox Series should reach at least 50 million.

Despite an ok number of sales, the potential promised at the beginning of its generations makes everything seem worse than it really is.

 

[Danny]

Microsoft has more than 30 million gamepass subscribers with the biggest amount being on Xbox, if they don't launch a new console they will lose the revenue from this.

Doesn't make sense for Microsoft not having a new generation, unless they drastic change their approach and gave up of gamepass, or unlikely convince Sony to allow GP on Playstation.

Can you make AAA games for a market of 30 million subscribers? I don't think Gamepass is viable without further growth in the long run. And further growth can only happen from PC gamepass because the console will continue to decline massively from now until the end of the console gen.

Gamepass was created to make it an attractive ecosystem, it has failed. Since the creation of Gamepass the only thing that has happened is that Playstation has increased its popularity and market share over Xbox, thus proving that the whole subscription model for games is not the attractive model Microsoft thought it would be. You can bet they thought the creation of gamepass would lead to lots of people moving from Playstation to Xbox, and instead the opposite happened.

That is why all this sudden internal discussion about multiplatform releases is going on at Microsoft, because Gamepass was the whole strategy they had to increase market share for Xbox ecosystem. It has failed. Multiplatform releases will be the future for Microsoft gaming, because the ecosystem will be too small to make AAA games just for the small Xbox user base. It would be like Nintendo continuing with the small Wii U console, when a user base is that small its not viable to make huge budget games for that system, if you don't want to throw away money.

 

[Jin+Jang]

Currently the XBOX brand reminds me a little of the situation that the 3DS went through. Higher expectations and a harsh reality check.

3DS sold 75 million, Xbox Series should reach at least 50 million.

At this selling rate.... It won't. Even X1 didn't had such harsh drop in its 4th year in Europe.

 

[allan-bh]

Can you make AAA games for a market of 30 million subscribers? I don't think Gamepass is viable without further growth in the long run. And further growth can only happen from PC gamepass because the console will continue to decline massively from now until the end of the console gen.

Gamepass was created to make it an attractive ecosystem, it has failed. Since the creation of Gamepass the only thing that has happened is that Playstation has increased its popularity and market share over Xbox, thus proving that the whole subscription model for games is not the attractive model Microsoft thought it would be. You can bet they thought the creation of gamepass would lead to lots of people moving from Playstation to Xbox, and instead the opposite happened.

That is why all this sudden internal discussion about multiplatform releases is going on at Microsoft, because Gamepass was the whole strategy they had to increase market share for Xbox ecosystem. It has failed. Multiplatform releases will be the future for Microsoft gaming, because the ecosystem will be too small to make AAA games just for the small Xbox user base. It would be like Nintendo continuing with the small Wii U console, when a user base is that small its not viable to make huge budget games for that system, if you don't want to throw away money.

Multiplatform is the future (in fact already the present) for Microsoft, but not abandoning Xbox, they still have a lot revenue attached to the system, so next gen Xbox is definitely coming.

 

[Danny]

Multiplatform is the future (in fact already the present) for Microsoft, but not abandoning Xbox, they still have a lot revenue attached to the system, so next gen Xbox is definitely coming.

I could see them going the Valve route with the steam deck and make a niche system for a few dedicated markets like the US, making a new Xbox to release in the European market would be laughable. PS5 is now outselling the Xbox by about 10 times in Europe. And the Switch 2 is soon releasing, there is no room at all for Xbox on the European console market when that system is releasing. Microsoft can release their version of the steam deck for the few dedicated Xbox diehard fans in the US though.

 

[allan-bh]

There's deals for Series X in Europe or is being sold for 549€ ?

 

[derby_440]

Unlike last year PS5 was on sale for couple of weeks, price dropped to 475€. But still there was YOY decrease.

Sony can ship 20m next FY if price drops continue in Europe and USA on consistent basis. PS5 pro will help as well along with GTA6 hype.

 

[harry mason 1989]

Ouch at xbox numbers
Terrible imo
I think we will see more xbox first party games on ps5& switch 2

 

[enpleinjour]

„Hardware sales were 474,469. This is up 11% but down 14% when aligned to a 5-week period“
The numbers in the OP should already be adjusted for the number of weeks. One won’t get to +14% when using -2%, -7% and -47%. So this figures must be for the 5 week period.

Oh didn't see that, will edit, thats actually a great hold for PS5 and NSW.

Can you make AAA games for a market of 30 million subscribers? I don't think Gamepass is viable without further growth in the long run. And further growth can only happen from PC gamepass because the console will continue to decline massively from now until the end of the console gen.

Gamepass was created to make it an attractive ecosystem, it has failed. Since the creation of Gamepass the only thing that has happened is that Playstation has increased its popularity and market share over Xbox, thus proving that the whole subscription model for games is not the attractive model Microsoft thought it would be. You can bet they thought the creation of gamepass would lead to lots of people moving from Playstation to Xbox, and instead the opposite happened.

That is why all this sudden internal discussion about multiplatform releases is going on at Microsoft, because Gamepass was the whole strategy they had to increase market share for Xbox ecosystem. It has failed. Multiplatform releases will be the future for Microsoft gaming, because the ecosystem will be too small to make AAA games just for the small Xbox user base. It would be like Nintendo continuing with the small Wii U console, when a user base is that small its not viable to make huge budget games for that system, if you don't want to throw away money.

You're right and the dilemma MSFT faces is they have spent $80B on publisher acquisitions and Phil and team promised revenues of $30B+, 100M subs, sold that to investors and none of that will pan out in the current trajectory.

Its a catastrophic miss and I suspect there are alarm bells at Redmond over the situation.
If they were to go full multiplatform their publisher revenues right now is $9-10B. MSFT Gaming may be more profitable than Xbox but the whole sell to investors of being the biggest or one of the big gaming companys with consumer namestay like Netflix is evaporated. 90% of GP subs are on Xbox, GP will almost certainly get killed as well.

They wouldn't even be Top 5 as a multiplat pub and hugely behind the platform holders like Playstation, Apple, Google, Nintendo, Tencent.

And as a 3rd publisher they are unlikely to see much growth. Gaming effectively becomes a dead end to a company like MSFT in such a scenario.

 

[Belthazar]

Currently the XBOX brand reminds me a little of the situation that the 3DS went through. Higher expectations and a harsh reality check.

3DS sold 75 million, Xbox Series should reach at least 50 million.

Despite an ok number of sales, the potential promised at the beginning of its generations makes everything seem worse than it really is.

I really don't see how the Series consoles would reach anywhere close to 50 million tbh.

 

[mariodk18]

Xbox's best move at this point (and what they seem to be doing) is to pull a Wii U to Switch transition (a la Nintendo) and move on from this generation sooner rather than later. But they should only launch their next hardware when their software lineup is ready and they can ensure Phil's desired "1 big game per quarter" timeline. Especially since they're not coming off the 360 or the PS4, like in Sony's case, they need to come out with a strong launch title (at this point either Fable) and keep the hits coming with smaller, more experimental experiences in between to maintain momentum.

Everything with regards to their software is building towards late 2025 through 2028 with a lot of key titles. Fable, Gears 6, TES VI, Blade, a rumored Banjo & Kazooie, the next Forza, Halo, Perfect Dark, etc. This next gen might be Phil's last shot.