European Video Game Sales Experience 1.7% Growth in 2023

The European video game market witnessed a 1.7% rise in sales during 2023, with a total of 182 million PC and console games sold. This data is based on GSD tracking, which monitors physical game sales across major European markets and digital sales from prominent game publishers across the continent. EA's football game, EA Sports FC 24, led the sales charts, despite a 9% decline in sales compared to FIFA 23 in 2022. However, considering the rebranding and the impact of the 2022 World Cup, this decrease is not unexpected. EA Sports FC 24's sales remain ahead of pre-pandemic FIFA franchise sales. Hogwarts Legacy by Warner Bros secured the second spot, achieving massive success across Europe, with no game selling as many units in a calendar year since 2017, excluding EA football games. The new Call of Duty, Modern Warfare 3, had a disappointing year, with sales down 32% compared to Modern Warfare 2 in 2022. Diablo 4 by Activision Blizzard ranked sixth, while Nintendo Switch exclusives, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Super Mario Bros Wonder, ranked seventh and ninth, respectively. Spider-Man 2 rounded off the top ten. Rockstar had a strong year, with GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2 ranking fifth and eighth, respectively. Other notable games in the top 20 include Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Assassin's Creed Mirage, F1 23, and Resident Evil 4 Remake. The top 100 games included Dead Space Remake, Final Fantasy 16, NBA 2K24, Dead Island 2, Starfield, and more. 34% of all games sold in 2023 were released the same year, a slight decrease from 35% in 2022. In terms of platforms, PC led the sales, followed by PS5, Switch, PS4, and Xbox Series S and X. The UK remained the largest European market for games, followed by Germany, France, Spain, and Italy. PlayStation 5 sales surged 177% across Europe, with 7.4 million consoles sold, a 42% increase from the previous year. PS5 was the best-selling console, followed by Nintendo Switch, which saw a 10% decline in sales. Xbox Series S and X sales dropped 18%, while PlayStation 4 sales grew 671% due to previous stock issues. Accessories sales rose 9% year-on-year, with the PS5 DualSense controller leading the sales, followed by Microsoft's Xbox Series Wireless controller.