GSD European Sales June/H1 2024: EA Sports FC24 #1, Elden Ring #2, Luigi's Mansion 2 HD #8

[Astrogamer]

European game sales down just 1.6% during the first half of 2024 | European Monthly Charts

Just under 80 million PC and console games have been sold across Europe for the first six months of 2024, GSD data reve…

www.gamesindustry.biz

June Overall

• Software - 11.3 million (down 19% YoY)
• Hardware - 300,000 (down 24% YoY)
• Accessories - 1.1 million (down 7.3% YoY)

First Half Overall

• Software - 80 million (down 1.6% YoY)
• Hardware - 2.2 million (down 24% YoY)
• Accessories - 8 million (down 8.4% YoY)

This June was notably absent of big releases compared to last year. The only new game charting was Luigi's Mansion 2 HD. It narrowly misses the fastest selling Switch title of the year by 4000 units, landing behind The Thousand Year Door. In comparison to Luigi's Mansion 3, it is a 1/3 of its launch sales. EA FC 24 is top game for the month, ahead of FIFA 23 by 7% over the same respective period of time. This is driven by the European Championships. Elden RIng jumped by 454% to second place with the new expansion: Shadow of the Erdtree.

For hardware, all the platforms dropped with the PS5 with being most resilient at 10% drop. For the 1st half, the PS5 is down 16% overall, Switch is down 32% and the Xbox Series are down 37%

June Top 10

Rank	Title
1	EA Sports 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 (Rockstar)
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)

First Half Top 10

Rank	Title
1	EA Sports FC 24 (EA)
2	Helldivers 2 (Sony)
3	Grand Theft Auto 5 (Rockstar)
4	Hogwarts Legacy (Warner Bros)
5	Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar)
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)

June 2023
May 2024

 

[BTB123]

Remarkable software hold for the first half of the year.

 

[Belthazar]

PS5 being down only 16% is actually hella impressive.

 

[Astrogamer]

PS5 being down only 16% is actually hella impressive.

I wouldn't call it impressive. It's fine but, not great for a market leader. It suggests it already peaked.

 

[Evilms]

I don't know if we've had any info on the first half of 2023 as a whole, but monthly last year it was :

 

[Astrogamer]

Here's last year's 1st half article

Hogwarts Legacy and Diablo 4 lead Europe's half year games charts

Diablo 4 is already the year's second biggest game

www.gamesindustry.biz

It was just talking about software. It looks like 5 million units were adjusted in for last year since this article says 76 million units while the drop from this article suggests 81 million

 

[The Hunter]

Good result for software sales and the drop of PS5 is also very good, I expected a much bigger drop and instead it did quite well.

Xbox's results as usual are disastrous , but it is not a surprise.

 

[enpleinjour]

`

European game sales down just 1.6% during the first half of 2024 | European Monthly Charts

Just under 80 million PC and console games have been sold across Europe for the first six months of 2024, GSD data reve…

www.gamesindustry.biz

June Overall

• Software - 11.3 million (down 19% YoY)
• Hardware - 300,000 (down 24% YoY)
• Accessories - 1.1 million (down 7.3% YoY)

First Half Overall

• Software - 80 million (down 1.6% YoY)
• Hardware - 2.2 million (down 40% YoY)
• Accessories - 8 million (down 8.4% YoY)

This June was notably absent of big releases compared to last year. The only new game charting was Luigi's Mansion 2 HD. It narrowly misses the fastest selling Switch title of the year by 4000 units, landing behind The Thousand Year Door. In comparison to Luigi's Mansion 3, it is a 1/3 of its launch sales. EA FC 24 is top game for the month, ahead of FIFA 23 by 7% over the same respective period of time. This is driven by the European Championships. Elden RIng jumped by 454% to second place with the new expansion: Shadow of the Erdtree.

For hardware, all the platforms dropped with the PS5 with being most resilient at 10% drop. For the 1st half, the PS5 is down 16% overall, Switch is down 32% and the Xbox Series are down 37%

Hardware is down by 24% not 40% YoY

I don't know if we've had any info on the first half of 2023 as a whole, but monthly last year it was :

My EU 2024 1H estimates:

PS5 : 1.3M
NSW : 0.75M
XBS : 0.15M

PS5 is doing very well. With the possibility of Pro and a price drop it could be very close to its peak last year. No words for Xbox, its getting to almost being an accounting error on the console market in Europe.

 

[Bernd Lauert]

Mainland Europe and Japan seem to be similarly sized markets, just that the numbers for PS5 and NSW are flipped. Interesting.

 

[opaidiota]

Very good PS5 drop.

I imagine what it would be like if the console had a more reasonable price.

 

[KillerMan]

Mainland Europe and Japan seem to be similarly sized markets, just that the numbers for PS5 and NSW are flipped. Interesting.

Well for hw these numbers don't include largest mainland european market (Germany). Also in sw sales the difference is gigantic compared to Japan. 80 million for half year is already multiple times of yearly japanese market.

 

[Kowalski]

A mere 16% decline in PlayStation 5 sales for the first half of the year is impressive actually.

 

[theprodigy]

I wonder how many units all those cheap Command & Conquer games added to the unit software total

 

[Belthazar]

I wouldn't call it impressive. It's fine but, not great for a market leader. It suggests it already peaked.

If you disconsider how crazy of a spike PS5 had on the first half of last year, then sure... it's not impressive at all.

 

[Lelouch0612]

A mere 16% decline in PlayStation 5 sales for the first half of the year is impressive actually.

Agreed, this is their 2nd best H1 in Europe by far.

 

[StrazakGoz]

I wouldn't call it impressive. It's fine but, not great for a market leader. It suggests it already peaked.

Suggests? It’s a know fact, to Sony, the industry and anyone interested in the topic.

 

[allan-bh]

It was a nice decline for PS5 indeed considering H1 2023 was strong.

About Xbox, there's a reason for Microsoft apparently stop marketing/selling hardware in some countries, outside of UK and the majors European countries, sales must be basically null at this point.

 

[Lelouch0612]

It was a nice decline for PS5 indeed considering H1 2023 was strong.

About Xbox, there's a reason for Microsoft apparently stop marketing/selling hardware in some countries, outside of UK and the majors European countries, sales must be basically null at this point.

Throwing the towel is still a concerning move, given the size of the market we are talking about.

 

[Remember_spinal]

gaming market would be much healthier if Microsoft/xbox were picking up the slack with nintendo being in its 8th year on the market.

Once switch 2 is out and more current gen only exclusives start coming out the market will pick up everywhere. Xbox I’m no really sure what plan they have in place for the future.

 

[SteamChartsEnthusiast]

I’m no really sure what plan they have in place for the future.

There is no plan, never was.

Phil is a terrible leader, the worst CEO of the consoles manufactures ever. He has never been proactive, always reactive. It wouldn't surprise me if after the failure of the next "console" the higher ups at Microsoft decides to divest and sell all their gaming division.

As far as the PS5 drop, its good but I wonder if its thanks to the collapse of their competition.

And finally I hope Switch 2 releases on the first half of 2025, not on holidays.

 

[Lelouch0612]

There is no plan, never was.

Phil is a terrible leader, the worst CEO of the consoles manufactures ever. He has never been proactive, always reactive. It wouldn't surprise me if after the failure of the next "console" the higher ups at Microsoft decides to divest and sell all their gaming division.

I wouldn't go as far as you, if you compare the situation Xbox were and is now, I wouldn't say it got worse.

Don Mattrick or Phil Harrisson would get the palm, looking at their pedigree.

Nevertheless, their strategy is clearly unclear.

 

[Astrogamer]

I wonder how many units all those cheap Command & Conquer games added to the unit software total

Also Fallout and I believe Civilization VI. Both had sub $10 promotions with Fallout around to the show and Civ having promotions for the new game announcement.

 

[The Hunter]

Xbox I’m no really sure what plan they have in place for the future.

well it seems to me they've been saying this between the lines for several months, and even the rumors are going in this direction. They are simply turning the Xbox division into the Surface division, with a primary focus no longer as a hardware manufacturer but as a third-party publisher, especially after the acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
There is also a desire to push Gamepass on PC mainly and the cloud gaming, which at present continues to be a very small market and it will remain so for a long time

 

[ILikeFeet]

I wouldn't go as far as you, if you compare the situation Xbox were and is now, I wouldn't say it got worse.

Don Mattrick or Phil Harrisson would get the palm, looking at their pedigree.

Nevertheless, their strategy is clearly unclear.

at this point, we got a neopolitan bucket of bad leadership

 

[Belthazar]

I wouldn't go as far as you, if you compare the situation Xbox were and is now, I wouldn't say it got worse.

Don Mattrick or Phil Harrisson would get the palm, looking at their pedigree.

Nevertheless, their strategy is clearly unclear.

I would. The only line going up is revenue, but that's mostly due to them acquiring half the industry, which has costed the division a lot more than the money Microsoft paid for it.

The Xbox brand is at an all-time low regarding perception and even awareness... so I don't know how I would ser the current situation as better than what it was during the X1 era.

 

[The Hunter]

A mere 16% decline in PlayStation 5 sales for the first half of the year is impressive actually.

with a price cut it would probably reach if not exceed last year's sales. I hope that in 2025 there is a chance to cut the price, despite very good sales, the sales potential of ps5 still remains held back because of that.

 

[allan-bh]

Throwing the towel is still a concerning move, given the size of the market we are talking about.

A comeback from Xbox would demand an effort that Microsoft probably doesn't believe makes sense since the console market as a hole isn't growing.

I believe they already conceded that HW will be a niche for them, they will still be present on the bigger markets with Xbox consoles and push PC Gamepass and streaming for the smaller ones.

Console war between Playstation and Xbox is over.

 

[Evilnemesis8]

Remarkable software hold for the first half of the year.

Indeed, stuff like Fallout games/CIV and similar other titles/franchises(C&C)must've helped the units sold category a lot with the big surges the game(s) have had.

Software sales is also most likely up YoY when including titles which are not tracked.

Note: Palworld data is missing, which would likely have been a key seller, too.

Palworld was a giant seller but the indie(non-GSD partners) scene, especially on Steam, has had way more bigger titles this year compared to the last one.

Titles like
Enshrouded - 2M copies sold~(Feb) They say says 2M players, but it's not on Gamepass or other services.
Manor Lords - 2M copies sold(May)
Balatro - 1M copies sold(April)
Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor - 1M copies sold(March) Edit: Part of Embracer


Hades 2 - Most likely a Million seller.
Supermarket Simulator - Most likely a Million seller with a strong European customer base based on review languages on Steam.

Of course those are global sales, but a chunk of those sales are going to be European.
There's also a lot more smaller titles not part of the GSD that have done well(Little Kitty/Animal Well/etc.)

TL;DR - People are gaming even with a reduced triple AAA titles compared to last year.

 

[Astrogamer]

Indeed, stuff like Fallout games/CIV and similar other titles/franchises(C&C)must've helped the units sold category a lot with the big surges the game(s) have had.

Software sales is also most likely up YoY when including titles which are not tracked.



Palworld was a giant seller but the indie(non-GSD partners) scene, especially on Steam, has had way more bigger titles this year compared to the last one.

Titles like
Enshrouded - 2M copies sold~(Feb) They say says 2M players, but it's not on Gamepass or other services.
Manor Lords - 2M copies sold(May)
Balatro - 1M copies sold(April)
Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor - 1M copies sold(March)


Hades 2 - Most likely a Million seller.
Supermarket Simulator - Most likely a Million seller with a strong European customer base based on review languages on Steam.

Of course those are global sales, but a chunk of those sales are going to be European.
There's also a lot more smaller titles not part of the GSD that have done well(Little Kitty/Animal Well/etc.)

TL;DR - People are gaming even with a reduced triple AAA titles compared to last year.

Shouldn't Deep Rock Galactic be tracked under Coffee Stain which is under Embracer?
I am curious about how much wasn't tracked last year in comparison. I think this year leaned more of the indie publishers but, there was still some of those for the past couple years.

 

[Evilnemesis8]

Shouldn't Deep Rock Galactic be tracked under Coffee Stain which is under Embracer?

Mmm right, they're part of it. I guess it didn't sell enough to chart in the Top 10 in UK/EU in Feb.
For a second I forgot about the spiderweb of publishing label that is Embracer

I am curious about how much wasn't tracked last year in comparison. I think this year leaned more of the indie publishers but, there was still some of those for the past couple years.

Just by looking at 2023 vs 2024 in terms of Steam thread(although 2023 wasn't as exhaustive in its listing) and my own personal recollection there is no doubt that the amount of not tracked units is much higher this year compare to the previous ones.

But yeah, tough to really know about how large this information black hole is in general.

 

[salesguy]

Mainland Europe and Japan seem to be similarly sized markets, just that the numbers for PS5 and NSW are flipped. Interesting.

kinda also shows how small these few tracked eu markets (for hardware) are.

as always

Console hardware sales cover Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

i still never got an answer on if the consoles boycotted russia. never seen it discussed.

 

[Bernd Lauert]

i still never got an answer on if the consoles boycotted russia. never seen it discussed.

All three console manufacturers have suspended all software and hardware sales and online services in Russia. Not sure why it's still being tracked by GSD.

 

[enpleinjour]

kinda also shows how small these few tracked eu markets (for hardware) are.

as always

Completely wrong.
PS5 sold around 4.6M last year in these so called "small markets", more than what XBS sold in the US.
By the end, these "small markets" will have 20M+ PS5, likely more than the entire XBS US userbase.

 

[Kmds]

kinda also shows how small these few tracked eu markets (for hardware) are.

as always

Not at all. You have France which rivals UK and German markets and also the next big two European markets tracked like Spain and Italy. It also tracks the biggest minor markets in EU being Portugal, Switzerland, Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden. It's actually a very good amount and we get UK data separately so the only real problem is we don't have access to German data.

Also, Europe is much more lopsided to the end of the year and big game releases than US/Japan.

 

[BTB123]

Not at all. You have France which rivals UK and German markets and also the next big two European markets tracked like Spain and Italy. It also tracks the biggest minor markets in EU being Portugal, Switzerland, Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden. It's actually a very good amount and we get UK data separately so the only real problem is we don't have access to German data.

Also, Europe is much more lopsided to the end of the year and big game releases than US/Japan.

"Console hardware sales cover Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Accessories sales cover the same markets, but doesn't include Switzerland."
These are the countries they track console sales from. An honestly embarrassingly low number. As you see the Netherlands for example is not included, neither are many other countries that they do track digital software sales from and a few they track retail software sales from.

All of Europe combined is a much bigger market than Japan, even without the UK.

 

[Astral_lion02]

Last year 7.4M consoles where sold on GSD tracked markets and 2.6M in the UK for a total 10.0M

Give 2M for Germany and 1M for untracked markets and we have 13M for the whole european market meaning that we have data for roughly 75% of the market between the 2 reports (UK and Europe).

 

[Phenom08]

Why in the world do we treat the European market as a whole vs the US and Japan individually? Weird seeing someone state how an entire continent has a bigger market than a single country.

 

[BTB123]

Why in the world do we treat the European market as a whole vs the US and Japan individually? Weird seeing someone state how an entire continent has a bigger market than a single country.

I said that because of this post:

Mainland Europe and Japan seem to be similarly sized markets, just that the numbers for PS5 and NSW are flipped. Interesting.

That's obviously not the case as both console and software sales are significantly bigger in Europe than in Japan.

 

[Phenom08]

I said that because of this post:

That's obviously not the case as both console and software sales are significantly bigger in Europe than in Japan.

No I know why you said it, I just don't understand why Europe is grouped up. Why don't we do the same for NA or include Japan with the rest of Asia? I think Sony does this with their shipments. Nintendo seems to split them as well. Is it because they are so larger individually?

 

[GamingCJ]

Last year 7.4M consoles where sold on GSD tracked markets and 2.6M in the UK for a total 10.0M

Give 2M for Germany and 1M for untracked markets and we have 13M for the whole european market meaning that we have data for roughly 75% of the market between the 2 reports (UK and Europe).

Since you are mentioning Germany:
SIE DACH announced their FY23 results about a month ago.
~1.5m PS5s were sold, usually ~85% Germany, ~15% Austria+ Switzerland.

 

[Lelouch0612]

No I know why you said it, I just don't understand why Europe is grouped up. Why don't we do the same for NA or include Japan with the rest of Asia? I think Sony does this with their shipments. Nintendo seems to split them as well. Is it because they are so larger individually?

I agree with your overall sentiment, Europe isn't a single market.

 

[Astral_lion02]

No I know why you said it, I just don't understand why Europe is grouped up. Why don't we do the same for NA or include Japan with the rest of Asia? I think Sony does this with their shipments. Nintendo seems to split them as well. Is it because they are so larger individually?

USA alone being 80%+ of the whole North America market greatly reduces the relevance of a combined NA report.

In Europe the market historicly used as a reference is UK but UK share of Europe sales is very low compared to US in North America.
Then Stating about Europe trends using only UK data can be missleading.

Then that's why we need a grouped report including various european territories to show general trends of the continent.

 

[Kowalski]

I don't know where to put this, but Sony announces Summer Sale in SA from today through August 4th.

PlayStation 5: SAR 2099 = $486 (excluding tax), $559 (including tax).

• PS5 God of War Ragnarok: SAR 179 = $48.
• PS5 Horizon Forbidden West: SAR 139 = $37.
• PS5 Gran Turismo 7: SAR 179 = $48.
• PS5 Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart: SAR 139 = $37.