European Game Sales See Slight Decline in October, Despite Strong Showings from Assassin's Creed and Spider-Man

According to recent data from GSD, approximately 10.21 million PC and console games were sold across Europe, marking a slight year-over-year decrease of 2.3%. This data encompasses digital sales from major publishers across the Eurozone, as well as physical game sales in key Eurozone markets. Notably, the sales decline is relatively modest considering the absence of Call of Duty, which launched in November this year, as opposed to October last year. EA Sports FC 24 emerged as the best-selling game of the month, with sales 10% lower than its predecessor, FIFA 23, potentially due to the brand name change and the lack of a winter World Cup. Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Mirage secured the second spot, narrowly beating Spider-Man 2, with sales over 49% lower than Assassin's Creed Valhalla's first four weeks on the market. However, Mirage's sales surpassed those of older Assassin's Creed titles, such as Odyssey and Origins, by 22% and 6%, respectively. The launch of Spider-Man 2 was strong, with its first two weeks of sales nearly 30% higher than the original Spider-Man and almost triple that of Spider-Man: Miles Morales. In comparison to God of War Ragnarok, Spider-Man 2's sales were 28% lower, but when considering only PS5 sales, it outsold Ragnarok by 8%. Super Mario Bros Wonder took fourth place, with launch sales double those of Super Mario Odyssey and significantly higher than other recent Mario titles. New entries in the charts include Lords of the Fallen, Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Volume 1, EA Sports UFC 5, Detective Pikachu Returns, Sonic Superstars, and Forza Motorsport. In terms of console sales, the PS5 led the European market, with a 143% increase in sales compared to the same period last year, driven by improved stock availability. The Nintendo Switch followed in second place, despite a 20% decline in sales, while Xbox Series S and X sales continued to struggle, down 52% year-over-year. The total number of consoles sold across tracked markets in October was 481,000. Overall market sales saw a nearly 16% increase compared to September, with PS5 sales up 11%, Switch sales up 10%, and Xbox sales down approximately 20%. Peripheral and accessory sales reached 1.14 million units, down 3.6% year-over-year, while wallet and point card sales decreased 4% to 969,818 units.