European Gaming Market Sees Slight Uptick with FIFA 23 Sales

- Compared to September 2021, the gaming market witnessed a 10% decline in game sales, a 20% drop in console sales, and a 7% decrease in accessories sales. - FIFA 23, EA's final installment in the series, saw a 6% increase in launch sales compared to FIFA 22. - Console sales surged significantly over August, primarily driven by the Nintendo Switch. According to recent data from GSD, 14.4 million digital and physical video games were sold across Europe in September. This represents a 10% decline from the previous year, with 8.57 million digital downloads (down 13.8%) and 5.82 million physical sales (down 3.7%). FIFA 23 dominated the charts, with sales 6% higher than FIFA 22's launch. The next closest competitor was NBA 2K23, which experienced a 10.5% increase in sales compared to the previous year's version. Splatoon 3 from Nintendo secured the third spot, although its digital sales were not included due to Nintendo's data sharing policies. The Last of Us: Part 1 debuted at number five. The Switch led the console market with 394,000 units sold across tracked European markets, a 20% decline from September 2021 but a 29% increase over August. The Switch saw an 11% sales boost compared to August, thanks to Splatoon 3's release. The PS5 and Xbox Series consoles also had a strong month, with sales rising 28% and nearly doubling, respectively. Accessories sales reached 1.44 million, a 7% decline from September 2021 but a 22% increase over August. The PS5 DualSense controller topped the market, followed by the PS4 DualSense pad. The PS5 Pulse 3D headset ranked fifth. Wallet and points card sales totaled 1.93 million, down 6.1% from 2021 but up 8.5% over August. *Digital data is not available for certain companies. GSD's digital data encompasses sales from participating companies via Steam, Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, and Nintendo Eshop. Major participants include Activision Blizzard, Bandai Namco, and Electronic Arts, among others. Notable absentees include Nintendo and 505 Games. Digital data covers sales in various European countries, while physical data includes all games sold in select markets. Console hardware sales and accessories data cover specific European markets.