Video game sales drop in July as release schedule dries up | European Monthly Report

Video game sales plunged in July across European markets, as console stock shortages and a lack of major releases continue.

Physical and digital game sales fell 38% year-on-year to 8.62 million units sold. It’s worth noting that July 2022 encompasses just four weeks, while July 2021 was five weeks, yet it was still a poor month for game sales.

This was mostly due to the lack of new releases. This year, the best-selling game of July was F1 22, which was actually released in June. The highest charting new release was Xenoblade Chronicles 3, which made No.7.

Last year, the best-selling games were F1 2021 (which did launch in July), and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD on Nintendo Switch.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 may not have been as big as Zelda, but it did well for the series, with launch sales up 27% compared with 2020's Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition.

It's worth noting that Nintendo does not share its download figures, so the game may have charted higher if those were available. In terms of pure physical retail sales, the game was the third best-selling game of the month, behind Nintendo Switch Sports (at No.2) and F1 22 (at No.1).

F1 22 was the top selling game in Germany, Italy and France, whereas Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga was the UK's best-selling game (for more on the UK charts, click here).

Switch holds No.1 spot in Europe

297,420 games consoles were sold across tracked European markets during July, a drop of 48% compared with July last year. Console data does not include sales from Germany or the UK, although you can read about the UK console market here.

Nintendo Switch was once again the most popular console by a large margin, with continued stock shortages for PS5 and Xbox Series X and S.

Year-to-date, console sales across these European markets are down over 26%. This is almost entirely due to stock shortages for PS5, with Xbox Series S and X and Nintendo Switch sales up slightly over the year before.

In terms of accessories, 8.99 million add-on products (including toys-to-life) were sold across tracked European markets. This is a drop of 9.4% over July 2021. The PS5 DualSense Controller remains the No.1 accessory by a large margin.

And finally, 11.6 million points cards were sold across the markets last month, a drop of 5.9% over the year before. The PlayStation Wallet Top-Up Card continues to be the most popular product.

European GSD July 2022 Top 20 (Digital + Physical)

* Digital data unavailable

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, Ubisoft and Warner Bros. Nintendo and 505 Games are the notable absentees, alongside smaller studios.

Digital data includes games sold in Austria, Bahrain, 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, UAE ion>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.