Skip to main content

Super Mario 3D All-Stars dominates September, even without digital | GSD Monthly Chart

Nintendo Switch consoles continue to sell well across Europe

Super Mario 3D All-Stars was the best selling game across Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia during September, according to the latest GSD market data

GSD, which is run by b2boost and European trade body ISFE, counts digital and physical game sales across numerous countries (details of which are listed at the bottom). Mario 3D All-Stars being the best-selling game is all the more remarkable as it doesn't include the game's digital sales, because Nintendo currently does not share its download data with the project.

12.4 million tracked game sales took place across the various markets during September 2020, of which 4.97 million were physical games and 7.42 million were digital games. That's a hefty drop on the 14.9 million games sold in September 2019, but that is entirely down to the absence of FIFA -- FIFA 20 launched in September last year, whereas FIFA 21 arrived in October this year. If we discount FIFA from the numbers, the games software market is actually up by almost a quarter last month compared with the same period the year before.

After Mario, the second biggest game of the month was Marvel's Avengers, followed by Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2.

In terms of consoles, 370,146 games machines were sold across the EMEAA territories last month. It's a drop of 20% over the same period in 2019, which is primarily due to falling sales of PlayStation 4 and Xbox One cosoles. The next PlayStation and Xbox devices are due to arrive in November, which explains the falling demand. Nintendo Switch was the dominant selling device of September, and represented the vast majority of console sales during the month. Switch sales were up almost 30% in September 2020 vs September 2019.

Finally, over three million accessories, toys-to-life products and top-up/wallet cards were sold in September 2020. Almost half of that number were the wallet cards, with just short of 1.5m PSN, Xbox Live, Nintendo EShop etc... cards sold across the tracked markets. The best-selling peripheral was the PS4 DualShock controller once again, whereas the new Joker and Hero Amiibo were the best-selling toys-to-life products.

The peripherals, toys-to-life and wallet/top-up card market was down 5.4% in September 2020 vs 2019. The absence of a new FIFA will have had an impact on hardware, accessories and points card sales.

Here are the EMEAA GSD charts for September:

GSD September Top 10 Video Games (Digital + Physical)

Position Title
1 Super Mario All-Stars (Nintendo)*
2 Marvel's Avengers (Square Enix)
3 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 (Activision Blizzard)
4 FIFA 20 (EA)
5 NBA 2K21 (2K Games)
6 Crusader Kings III (Paradox Interactive)
7 Grand Theft Auto 5 (Rockstar)
8 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege (Ubisoft)
9 Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo)*
10 Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar)

*Digital data not available

GSD September Top 10 Video Games (Digital)

Position Title
1 FIFA 20 (EA)
2 Marvel's Avengers (Square Enix)
3 NBA 2K21
4 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 (Activision Blizzard)
5 Crusader Kings III (Paradox Interactive)
6 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege (Ubisoft)
7 Grand Theft Auto 5 (Rockstar)
8 Middle-Earth: Shadow of War (Warner Bros)
9 Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar)
10 Tom Clancy's The Division 2 (Ubisoft)

GSD September Top 10 Video Games (Physical)

Position Title
1 Super Mario All-Stars (Nintendo)*
2 Marvel's Avengers (Square Enix)
3 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 (Activision Blizzard)
4 NBA 2K21 (2K Games)
5 Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo)
6 Mario Kart 8: Deluxe (Nintendo)
7 Ring Fit Adventure (Nintendo)
8 Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition (Microsoft/Nintendo)
9 Grand Theft Auto 5 (Rockstar)
10 Minecraft Dungeons (Microsoft)

Digital data includes games from participating companies sold via Steam, Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, Nintendo Eshop. Participating companies are Activision Blizzard, Anuman, Bandai Namco, Capcom, Codemasters, Electronic Arts, Focus Home Interactive, Koch Media, Microsoft, Milestone, Nacon, Paradox Interactive, Sega, Sony, Square Enix, Take-Two, THQ Nordic, Ubisoft and Warner Bros.

Digital data includes games sold in Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kuwait, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, UAE, United Kingdom.

Physical data includes all games, but only those sold in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom. You can find out more about the GSD charts here.

You can find out more about the GSD charts here.

Read this next

Christopher Dring avatar
Christopher Dring: Chris is a 17-year media veteran specialising in the business of video games. And, erm, Doctor Who
Related topics