Hogwarts Legacy and Diablo 4 Dominate European Gaming Charts for the First Half of the Year

The European gaming market witnessed a marginal increase in sales during the first half of the year, with 76.1 million console and PC games sold, slightly up from the same period in 2022. The UK emerged as the largest market for game sales in Europe, accounting for 15.3 million games sold, which represents a 5.5% increase over the same period in 2022. Germany followed closely with 14 million games sold, albeit an 11% decline, while France saw 11.1 million sales, marking an 8% increase. Spain recorded 5.4 million game sales, up 6.8%, and Italy trailed behind with 4.9 million sales, up 2.7%. In terms of sales channels, physical game sales across Europe declined by 9% year-over-year, with 29.1 million units sold. Conversely, digital download stores experienced a 7% increase, with 47 million games sold. These figures are based on data from GSD, which encompasses physical game sales in major European markets and digital game sales from nearly all major publishers across every European country, excluding Nintendo and indie developers. Hogwarts Legacy secured the top spot as the best-selling game in Europe for the first half of the year, with sales 69% higher than Elden Ring, the best-selling game during the same period in 2022. The first half of the year proved strong for prominent brands, with Diablo 4 already claiming the third spot despite only being on sale for a few weeks. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, ranked fourth, sold 13% more copies than Pokémon Legends: Arceus during the first half of the previous year. Note that Nintendo does not share digital data with GSD, so Zelda's performance is based solely on physical sales. FIFA 23 also had a strong year, with EA's football game selling 24% more units in the first half of 2023 compared to the same period in 2022. A closer examination reveals that Hogwarts Legacy was the best-selling digital game for the first six months, while The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom led physical game sales. Hogwarts Legacy topped the charts in major European countries like the UK, France, Germany, and Italy, although it was surpassed by FIFA in Spain. The game's sales in the UK were over 124% higher than the UK's second-best-selling game, FIFA 23. In Germany, Hogwarts Legacy outsold the second-best-selling game, Diablo 4, by 14%. In France, the Warner Bros game was 17% ahead of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, the country's second-best-selling game. The European GSD H1 2023 Top 20 (Digital + Physical) rankings are as follows: 1. Hogwarts Legacy (Warner Bros), 2. Diablo 4 (Activision Blizzard), 3. FIFA 23 (EA), 4. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo)*, 5. Grand Theft Auto 5 (Rockstar), 6. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Activision Blizzard), 7. Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar), 8. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (EA), 9. NBA 2K23 (2K Games), 10. Resident Evil 4 (Capcom), 11. God of War Ragnarok (Sony), 12. Mario Kart 8: Deluxe (Nintendo)*, 13. Dead Island 2 (Deep Silver), 14. The Last of Us: Part 2 (Sony), 15. Far Cry 6 (Ubisoft), 16. Final Fantasy 16 (Square Enix), 17. Assassin's Creed Valhalla (Ubisoft), 18. Nintendo Switch Sports (Nintendo)*, 19. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege (Ubisoft), and 20. Grand Theft Auto Online (Rockstar). *Digital data is not available for these titles. GSD digital data includes games from participating companies sold via major PC digital stores, Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, and Nintendo Eshop. Key participating companies include Activision Blizzard, Bandai Namco, Capcom, Codemasters, Electronic Arts, Embracer Group, Focus Entertainment, Konami, Marvellous Games, Microids, Microsoft, Milestone, Nacon, Paradox Interactive, Quantic Dream, Sega, Sony, Square Enix, Take-Two, Ubisoft, and Warner Bros. Notable absentees include Nintendo and 505 Games, as well as smaller studios. Digital data encompasses game sales in various European countries, while physical data includes all games sold in specific European markets.