European Video Game Sales Experience a Slight Dip of 1.6% in the First Half of 2024

In the first six months of 2024, nearly 80 million PC and console games were sold across Europe, indicating a mere 1.6% decline in unit sales compared to the same period in 2023. This is a notable achievement, considering the first half of 2023 saw significant releases like Hogwarts Legacy, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and Diablo IV. In contrast, only two games in the top ten best-selling games of 2024 so far, Helldivers 2 and The Last of Us: Part 2 Remastered, were released this year. It's also worth noting that many of these games had lower selling prices compared to last year's AAA releases, which would have resulted in a more substantial revenue decline. In the UK market, for instance, games revenue was down by 30% over the first half of the year. Looking at June specifically, 11.3 million video games were sold, representing a 19% drop from the same month last year, which was boosted by major releases such as Diablo 4 and Final Fantasy 16. However, EA Sports FC24 was a bright spot, topping the June charts with sales 7% higher than FIFA 24's sales during the comparable period last year, likely due to the European Championships taking place in Germany. Another positive note was Elden Ring, which saw a massive sales increase following the release of its new DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, with the base game's sales leaping 454% month-over-month. The highest-charting new game was Luigi's Mansion 2 HD, although its launch sales were just under a third of what Luigi's Mansion 3 achieved in its opening week in 2019. GSD data tracks physical sales across major European markets and digital sales from most major publishers, except for Nintendo. In terms of console sales, just over 300,000 games consoles were sold across Europe in June, a 24% drop from the same period last year. The first six months of the year saw 2.2 million units sold, down 24% from 2023, with PS5 being the most resilient platform. The accessories and peripherals market also experienced a decline, with 1.1 million products sold in June, down 7.3% from last year, although the DualSense controller's discount helped boost sales. For the first half of the year, eight million accessories were sold, an 8.4% drop from 2023.