In July, 2.4 million video games were sold in Europe, an increase of 3.4 percent compared to the previous year.
This is an impressive result when you look at the top ten, where the only game released this year is Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD at number 9. All other games were released before 2024, including the top seller of the month: EA Sports FC 24.
The EA soccer game’s position at number 1 is no surprise, as the European Championship took place partly in July. As a result, EA Sports FC 24 sold 69% more copies in July than FIFA 23 did last year (when there was no international soccer tournament).
There were a number of gaming promotions in July, so there are a few surprises in the charts. Hitman Absolution, first released in 2012, had a free game promotion on Amazon Prime, and that title ranks at number 8 for July.
The highest charting new release was EA Sports College Football 25, which was particularly successful in the UK, and reached number 39 across Europe.
In the console hardware space, 263,000 games consoles were sold in select markets (the UK and Germany are the biggest absentees – you can find the UK figures here). This was a sharp 46% year-on-year decline. The PS5 led the market in July, but saw a 56% decline compared to the same period last year. Nintendo Switch is in second place, but also saw a 29% year-on-year decline. Third place is taken by the Xbox Series family of consoles, with a 42% decline. There were no major console game releases in July.
Finally, in terms of accessories, 1.08 million products were sold in select markets, with the PS5 DualSense controller leading the pack by a wide margin. Overall, accessory sales are down nearly 20% compared to the same period last year.
European GSD Top 10 in July 2024 (digital + physical)
| position | title |
|---|---|
| 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 | Sid Meier’s Civilization VI (2K Games) |
| 7 | Battlefield 5 (EA) |
| 8 | Hitman Absolution (IO Interactive) |
| 9 | Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD (Nintendo)* |
| 10 | It takes two (EA) |
* Digital data not available
GSD’s digital data includes games from participating companies sold through Steam, Xbox Live, PlayStation Network and Nintendo Eshop. Major participating companies include Activision Blizzard, Bandai Namco, Capcom, Codemasters, Electronic Arts, Embracer Group (including Gearbox, Koch Media, 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 the notable absentees, along with smaller studios.
The 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.
The physical data includes all games, but only those sold in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
Sales of console hardware cover Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Sales of accessories cover the same markets, but do not include Switzerland.
