European video game sales jumped 12% in October on the back of blockbuster launches | European Monthly Charts

18.5 million video games were sold across Europe during October, which is a rise of 12.4% compared with the same five week period last year.

This is primarily due to the fact that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 launched in October this year, whereas last year's comparative title -- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 -- was a November release.

Black Ops 6's opening two weeks are up 5% in unit sales compared with last year's Modern Warfare 3. Modern Warfare 3 was a comparatively soft launch for Call of Duty, if we compare Black Ops 6 with 2022's Modern Warfare 2, launch sales are down 28%.

But of course, the big difference with Call of Duty this year is its availability in Game Pass. That means people will have been able to access the game via subscription on PC and Xbox, and that data is not tracked here. Indeed, there has been a sharp drop in Call of Duty sales (premium sales) on Xbox platforms as a result of the Game Pass inclusion.

If we purely look at the PlayStation versions (where Game Pass isn't available), Black Ops 6's sales are up 26% over Modern Warfare 3 and up 2% over Modern Warfare 2. So although we are missing subscription data, it suggests that there's been a sharp increase in Call of Duty players this year overall.

Coming in second place is EA Sports FC 25. The football game sold very slightly less (down 2%) compared with last year's game over the same five-week period.

We have another new game at No.3 in the form of Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero by Bandai Namco. It's a huge launch for the new Dragon Ball title, with sales (for the first four weeks) more than double the previous fastest-selling Dragon Ball game (2020's Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot).

At No.5 is another new release in the form of Super Mario Party Jamboree for Nintendo Switch. It's a solid launch for the game, although sales for the first three weeks are 6% below that of 2021's Mario Party Superstars. Note: Sales of Mario Party are purely physical, as Nintendo doesn't share digital data with the charts.

Next on the list of new games is Silent Hill 2 by Konami. The remake has charted well, although it hasn't quite managed what last year's horror remakes achieved. Sales of Silent Hill 2 for the first four weeks are 57% lower than the Resident Evil 4 remake and 31% below that of the Dead Space remake.

Making the Top Ten after one week on sale is Dragon Age: The Veilguard at No.7. EA's game did some solid numbers in the UK, but things are a little softer across the rest of Europe. Compared with other recent big RPGs, Dragon Age's first week sales were over 18% lower than Dragon's Dogma 2 (released in March) and nearly 21% below that of Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth (released in February).

Finally, rounding off the new releases in the Top Ten is the boxing game Undisputed. As we reported in the UK, the game by indie developer Steel City Interactive has done incredibly well, and shows there was some real pent up demand for a boxing title featuring official licences and boxers.

Just outside of the Top Ten is Metaphor: Refantazio. The Atlus game is by some of the brains behind the cult favourite Persona series, and compared with 2019's Persona 5 Royal, launch sales are just over 32% lower (first four weeks on sale). Yet it's clearly a great result for a new IP, with opening sales ahead of all other Persona titles tracked by GSD.

Finally, Sonic X Shadow Generations comes in at No.16. The Sega game's sales are double that of last year's 2D Sonic game (Sonic Superstars), but is down 42% over 2022's open world Sonic game Sonic Frontiers. The game is designed to partially tie-in with the upcoming third Sonic movie, so expect it to feature heavily over the coming weeks.

Over in hardware, 422,000 games consoles were sold across tracked markets, which is down 26% compared with the same five week period in 2023.

PS5 sales were down nearly 29% over last year, Nintendo Switch sales dropped 10% and Xbox sales were down more than 49%.

So far this year, sales of games consoles have dropped 28% over the year before.

Elsewhere, 1.4 million accessories were sold across tracked markets, which is a drop of nearly 13% over the same period in 2023.

European GSD October 2024 Top 10 (Digital + Physical)

GSD digital data includes games from participating companies sold via Steam, Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, Nintendo Eshop. Major participating companies are 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 the notable absentees, alongside 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 United Kingdom.

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 United Kingdom.

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.