PC and console game sales fall in Europe over April as major releases dry up | European Monthly Charts

April PC and console game sales fell 6.2% year-on-year in Europe, with 10.5 million games sold.

That’s according to GSD data, which tracks digital sales for most major games companies across the whole of Europe, and all physical game sales in all major European markets.

April was a very quiet month for games. The only new game in the Top Ten is Stellar Blade for PS5, which starts at No.9. By comparison, April 2023 featured the debut of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (which was No.1 in that month's chart) and Dead Island 2 (which was No.3).

Although there wasn't a big new release, there was a resurgent game in the form of Fallout 4. As in the UK, Fallout 4 was comfortably the No.1 game of the month, driven by a price cut and the launch of the hit Amazon Prime TV show. The PC version of the game accounted for over half of Fallout 4's sales.

It's one of three Fallout games in the Top Ten, with Fallout 76 at No.7 and Fallout: New Vegas at No.10. Fallout 3 is down at No.14.

The second best-selling game of the month was EA Sports FC 24, which very (very) narrowly pips Helldivers 2 tot the position. Elsewhere, TopSpin 2K25 makes its return at No.12, and No Rest For The Wicked from Moon Studios and Private Divison debuts at No.13.

Console sales drop heavily in April

Over in hardware, and it was a tough month with console sales down 47% over the same period the year before. All three major platforms are down substantially.

This data covers a number of European markets, but doesn’t feature the UK or Germany. For UK data, click here.

There are a few reasons for this. During the first half of last year we saw a sharp increase in stock of PS5 following a period of limited availability, and so there was a strong sales spike during this time last year. Last April also saw a lot of activity around Nintendo Switch, including a new hardware SKU to coincide with the Super Mario Bros movie, and then a special console ahead of the release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

Of course, PS5 and Xbox Series S and X are also struggling due to a weaker release schedule, while Switch is now into its eigth year on the market, so it’s not surprising sales are slowing down. There is certainly a need for some high profile software and new consoles to help stimulate sales in this sector.

Finally, sales of accessories dropped nearly 17% over April last year, with just over 1m units sold. The PS5 DualSense Controller held its No.1 position with sales up 0.8% over the month before.

European GSD April 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.