11.9 million video games were sold across Europe last month, led by a resurgent Call of Duty.
The latest GSD data shows that game sales are up 1.5% over last October. 6.84m games were sold via digital download stores, while the physical retail market declined by 13%.
This is in part due to a significant increase in download sales for new titles such as FIFA and Call of Duty.
The Activision Blizzard shooter beat FIFA 23 to the No.1 spot, after just one week on sale. The game’s first week sales were 125% bigger than what Call of Duty: Vanguard managed last year.
In fact, Modern Warfare 2 — after just two weeks — is already on the brink of out-selling Call of Duty: Vanguard’s lifetime performance across European markets. Modern Warfare 2 is already the third best-selling game of the year, just behind Elden Ring.
It may have had to settle for second place, but FIFA 23 also had a strong month, with sales up 4% over what FIFA 22 managed during the same period last year.
In fourth place is another new release in the form of Gotham Knights. The superhero game launched at a similar time as Guardians of the Galaxy did last year. However, Gotham Knight’s sales are 13% lower after two weeks compared to the Marvel game.
Also new to the charts is Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope at No.5. Across tracked markets, the Nintendo Switch exclusive sold 7.5% more copies in its first two weeks compared with its predecessor, which launched in August 2017 (UK data excluded as 2017 figures are unavailable).
At No.9 for the month is Victoria 3 from Paradox. It’s a sequel to a game from 2010 and has got off to a strong start across Europe.
Elsewhere, A Plague Tale: Requiem is at No.12. The Focus Home Entertainment game is 12% down compared with the first two weeks of 2019’s A Plague Tale: Innoncence. However, Requiem was included as part of Xbox Game Pass and that data is not available here.
Other new releases during October included Bayonetta 3 (No.14), NHL 23 (at No.17) plus new versions of Persona 5 Royal (No.18).
PS5 takes No.1 despite sales fall
367,821 games consoles were sold across European markets last month, a drop of 33% over the same period the year before. This data does not include Germany or UK figures, for UK data click here.
In a rare twist, PS5 was the best-selling console of the month, just ahead of Nintendo Switch. Switch suffered a steep drop over October 2021, due to the fact that the Switch OLED model launched during this period last year.
It’s the first time since September 2021 that Nintendo Switch was not the No.1 console across Europe.
The Xbox Series family of consoles is the only platform to post a year-on-year increase in October, with sales up over 26%.
As for accessories, more than 1.18 million add-on products were sold across tracked European markets during the month, a drop of more than 13% over October last year.
And finally, almost 1.1 million points cards were sold, which is a drop of nearly 7% over October 2021.
European GSD October 2022 Top 20 (Digital + Physical)
| Position | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Activision Blizzard) |
| 2 | FIFA 23 (EA) |
| 3 | Grand Theft Auto 5 (Rockstar) |
| 4 | Gotham Knights (Warner Bros) |
| 5 | Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope (Ubisoft) |
| 6 | Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar) |
| 7 | Splatoon 3 (Nintendo)* |
| 8 | NBA 2K23 (2K Games) |
| 9 | Victoria 3 (Paradox) |
| 10 | Mario Kart 8: Deluxe (Nintendo)* |
| 11 | Fallout 4 (Bethesda) |
| 12 | A Plague Tale: Requiem (Focus Home Entertainment) |
| 13 | F1 22 (EA/Codemasters) |
| 14 | Bayonetta 3* (Nintendo) |
| 15 | Metro Exodus (Deep Silver) |
| 16 | Nintendo Switch Sports (Nintendo)* |
| 17 | NHL 23 (EA) |
| 18 | Persona 5 Royal (Sega) |
| 19 | Horizon: Forbidden West (Sony) |
| 20 | Gran Turismo 7 (Sony) |
* Digital data unavailable
GSD digital data includes games from participating companies sold via Steam, Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, Nintendo Eshop. Major participating companies are 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, Ubisoft and Warner Bros. Nintendo and 505 Games are the notable absentees, alongside smaller studios.
Digital data includes games sold in Austria, Bahrain, 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, UAE ion>and 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 United Kingdom.
Console hardware sales cover Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Accessories sales cover the same markets, but doesn’t include Switzerland.
