At a glance
Game sales down 10%, consoles down 20% and accessories down 7% vs September 2021
EA’s final FIFA 23 enjoys launch sales that are 6% higher than FIFA 22
Console sales significantly up over August, led by Nintendo Switch
14.4 million digital and physical video games were sold across Europe during September, according to the latest figures from GSD.
That’s down 10% over the year before. 8.57 million sales were via digital download stores (down 13.8% compared with September 2021), and 5.82 million were via physical retailers (down 3.7%).
The biggest game of the month, by a very large margin, was FIFA 23. EA’s final FIFA game finished its run in style, with sales up 6% compared with the launch of FIFA 22.
The nearest competitior to FIFA is another sports game: NBA 2K23. The typically US-centric sport continues to grow in popularity in Europe, with sales up 10.5% compared with last year’s version.
The third biggest-selling game in the charts is Splatoon 3 from Nintendo. The game will likely have charted at No.2, however, Nintendo does not share digital download figures with the charts, so it has to settle with third place. Rounding off the new releases is The Last of Us: Part 1 at No.5.
Switch continues to lead the console market
394,000 across tracked European markets last month (full list at the bottom of the article. Germany, and UK not included. UK data is available through here).
It’s a 20% drop over September 2021, but over 29% up compared with August.
The Switch was the best-selling console across tracked European markets last month, with sales up over 11% compared with August, boosted by the release of Splatoon 3.
But it was a strong month for all three main platforms. PS5 sales are up 28%, while the biggest riser was the Xbox Series consoles, with sales almost double that in August.
Elsewhere, 1.44 million accessories were sold across tracked GSD markets, a drop of 7% over September 2021, but 22% up over August.
Once again the PS5 DualSense controller leads the market, with the PS4 DualSense pad in second place. The highest charting non-controller is the PS5 Pulse 3D headset at No.5.
In terms of wallet/points cards, 1.93 million cards were sold during September, which is 6.1% down over the same period in 2021, but up 8.5% over August.
European GSD September 2022 Top 20 (Digital + Physical)
| Position | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 | FIFA 23 (EA) |
| 2 | NBA 2K23 (2K Games) |
| 3 | Splatoon 3 (Nintendo)* |
| 4 | Grand Theft Auto 5 (Rockstar) |
| 5 | The Last of Us: Part 1 (Sony) |
| 6 | Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar) |
| 7 | F1 22 (EA/Codemasters) |
| 8 | Mario Kart 8: Deluxe (Nintendo)* |
| 9 | Saints Row (Deep Silver) |
| 10 | Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (Ubisoft) |
| 11 | Gran Turismo 7 (Sony) |
| 12 | Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege (Ubisoft) |
| 13 | Nintendo Switch Sports (Nintendo)* |
| 14 | Sid Meier’s Civilization VI (2K Games) |
| 15 | Minecraft: Switch Edition (Mojang/Nintendo) |
| 16 | Elden Ring (Bandai Namco) |
| 17 | Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (Ubisoft) |
| 18 | LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (Warner Bros) |
| 19 | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection (Konami) |
| 20 | Riders Republic (Ubisoft) |
* 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.
