European March Charts: Command & Conquer Dominates as Sales Surge

The European gaming charts for March saw a significant influx of Command & Conquer titles, thanks to a bundle release on Steam. As a result, five games from the iconic strategy series made it to the top ten, with Command & Conquer Generals leading the pack at number four. This surge in popularity led to new releases like WWE 2K24, Rise Of The Ronin, and Princess Peach Showtime charting lower than expected, with 11 Command & Conquer titles making the top 20. According to GSD, which tracks digital and physical console and PC game sales, 15.9 million games were sold across European markets, representing a 35% increase over the same period last year. Despite the absence of Palworld data, which was a major hit in January, game sales for the quarter are up 9% across Europe, exceeding analyst predictions. In March, Helldivers 2 dropped to second place, but still posted impressive numbers. EA Sports FC 24 regained its top spot, while Capcom's Dragon’s Dogma 2 managed to break through the Command & Conquer dominance, becoming a strong hit across Europe. It's one of two major Japanese RPGs released this year, following Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth in February. Comparing the first two weeks of sales, Final Fantasy narrowly edged out Dragon’s Dogma. Notably, Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth was exclusive to PS5, whereas Dragon’s Dogma 2 is available on PS5, PC, and Xbox. In terms of hardware, console sales declined 27% to 317,090 units across tracked markets, with PS5 experiencing the largest drop of nearly 31% year-over-year. However, PS5 remains the best-selling console in Europe, partly due to its widespread availability last year, which led to a surge in sales. Accessory sales saw 1.2 million products sold across tracked European markets, a minimal drop of 0.3% from the previous year. The DualSense controller for PS5 leads the market, followed by the Xbox Series Wireless controller. GSD's digital data encompasses games from participating companies, including Activision Blizzard, Bandai Namco, Capcom, and Electronic Arts, among others. Digital data covers games sold in various European countries, while physical data includes all games sold in select markets. Console hardware sales and accessories cover specific regions, with some exceptions.