In July, 2.4 million video games were sold in Europe, 3.4% more than the previous year.
It's an impressive result when you look at the Top Ten, where the only game released this year is Luigi's Mansion 2 HD at #9. All other games were released before 2024, including the best-selling game of the month: EA Sports FC 24.
EA Sports FC 24’s position at No. 1 is no surprise, as the European Championship took place during part of July. As a result, EA Sports FC 24 sold 69% more copies this July than FIFA 23 did last year (when there was no international football tournament).
There were several game promotions in July, so there are some surprises on the charts. Hitman Absolution, which was first released in 2012, had a free game promotion on Amazon Prime, and that title sits at #8 in July.
The standout launch was EA Sports College Football 25, which performed particularly well in the UK. Across Europe, it debuted at #39.
As for consoles, 263,000 units were sold in selected markets (the UK and Germany are the notable absentees. You can see the UK figures here). This was a massive 46% drop on the previous year. The PS5 is the market leader in July, although it suffered a 56% drop on last year. The Nintendo Switch is in second place, but it also suffered a 29% year-on-year drop. Third place is taken by the Xbox Series family of consoles, which was down 42%. There were no major console game releases in July.
Finally, in terms of accessories, 1.08 million products were sold in select markets, led by the PS5 DualSense controller by a considerable margin. Overall, accessory sales are down nearly 20% compared to the same period last year.
European GSD Top 10 July 2024 (digital + physical)
| Position | Qualification |
|---|---|
| 1 | EA Sports FC 24 (EA) |
| 2 | Grand Theft Auto 5 (Rockstar) |
| 3 | Elden Ring (Bandai Namco) |
| 4 | Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar) |
| 5 | Hogwarts Legacy (Warner Bros) |
| 6 | Civilization VI by Sid Meier (2K Games) |
| 7 | Battlefield 5 (EA) |
| 8 | Hitman Absolution (Interactive IO) |
| 9 | Luigi's Mansion 2 HD (Nintendo)* |
| 10 | It takes two (EA) |
* Digital data not available
GSD digital data includes games from participating companies sold via Steam, Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, and Nintendo Eshop. Key participating companies are Activision Blizzard, Bandai Namco, Capcom, Codemasters, Electronic Arts, Embracer Group (including Gearbox, Koch Media, and Sabre Interactive), Focus Entertainment, Konami, Marvellous Games, Microids, Microsoft (including Bethesda), Milestone, Nacon, Paradox Interactive, Quantic Dream, Sega, Sony, Square Enix, Take-Two, Tencent, Ubisoft, and Warner Bros. Nintendo and 505 Games are notable absentees, along with smaller studios.
Digital data includes games sold in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.
Physical data includes all games, but only those sold in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
Console hardware sales cover Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Accessory sales cover the same markets, but do not include Switzerland.