Video game sales up in Europe during July despite a lack of major releases | European Monthly Charts
However, console sales plunged over the summer
2.4 million video games were sold in Europe during July, a rise of 3.4% over the year before.
It's an impressive result when you look at the Top Ten, where the only game released this year is Luigi's Mansion 2 HD at No.9. Every other game was released before 2024, including the month's top seller: EA Sports FC 24.
The EA football game's position at No.1 is no surprise as the European Championships took place during part of July. As a result, EA Sports FC 24 sold 69% more copies this July than FIFA 23 managed last year (when there was no international football tournament).
There were a number of gaming promotions going on in July, which is why there are a few surprises in the charts. Hitman Absolution, which was first released in 2012, had a free game promotion on Amazon Prime, and that title is at No.8 for July.
The highest charting new release was EA Sports College Football 25, which did particularly well in the UK. For the whole of Europe, it debuted at No.39.
Over in console hardware, 263,000 games machines were sold across selected markets (UK and Germany are the big absentees. You can see UK figures here). This was a big drop of 46% on the year before. PS5 is the market leader for July, although saw a drop of 56% over this time last year. Nintendo Switch is at No.2, but also saw a 29% drop year-on-year. Third place is the Xbox Series family of consoles, which was down 42%. There were no major console game launches in July.
Finally, in terms of accessories, 1.08 million products were sold across selected markets, led by the PS5 DualSense controller by quite some margin. Overall, accessory sales are down nearly 20% over this time last year.
European GSD July 2024 Top 10 (Digital + Physical)
| Position | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 | EA Sports FC 24 (EA) |
| 2 | Grand Theft Auto 5 (Rockstar) |
| 3 | Elden Ring (Bandai Namco) |
| 4 | Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar) |
| 5 | Hogwarts Legacy (Warner Bros) |
| 6 | Sid Meier's Civilization VI (2K Games) |
| 7 | Battlefield 5 (EA) |
| 8 | Hitman Absolution (IO Interactive) |
| 9 | Luigi's Mansion 2 HD (Nintendo)* |
| 10 | It Takes Two (EA) |
* 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, 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.