Not easy to gather data from all of Europe when the rules are not common. Let us therefore note to begin with that console sales are only counted in 10 countries, while digital game sales are collected in 33 countries… compared to 15 countries for physical games. Despite these disparities, the great interest of the GSD data is that they include download sales in addition to physical sales thanks to participating companies… of which Nintendo is still not a part.
With these few details in mind, we learn that 76 million games were sold in Europe in the first half of 2022, including 44 million for download and 32 million in boxes. Notably, Germany stands out as the largest market with 15.4 million games sold between January and June 2022 (a nice increase of 14%). Dethroned, the United Kingdom is second with 14.3 million games sold (up 2%) while France finalizes the podium with 10.2 million games sold (up 12%).
She has Malenia manias
As on the other side of the Atlantic, Elden Ring is therefore well ahead of game sales for the first half of 2022. FromSoftware’s title thus rules out FIFA 22 and Pokémon Legends: Arceus, even if the latter is disabled by the absence of its download sales, like all the other titles published by Nintendo.
A Nintendo which also occupies no less than 7 places in the top 20, while Sony Interactive Entertainment comfortably places its two big new products, Horizon Forbidden West (6th) and Gran Turismo 7 (7th). Unsurprisingly, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga also confirms its success in Europe, as a reminder, he is the current dolphin of FromSoftware in the United States. Beaten in particular by Cerebral Academy: battle of brains, Call of Duty: Vanguard, on the other hand, confirms its poor performance with its 18th position.
PS5 availability isn’t improving
Taking into account only a sample of 10 countries, of which Germany and the United Kingdom are not even part, there are just over 2 million consoles sold in the first half, a drop of 21%. This is low and above all inevitable given the shortage of new generation consoles, in particular for a PS5 down 44% compared to the first half of 2021. Sony’s console still offers itself second position ahead of Xbox Series (which grew by 9%) while the Switch consolidates its lead with sales up by 7%.
To mention the accessories, finally, more than 8.6 million products (controllers, helmets and other amiibo) found takers, a decrease of 4%. The DualSense controller has been the best-selling accessory since the start of the year with sales up 53%, thanks in particular to the launch of its new colors. Let’s add that the PlayStation Store prepaid card remains by far the most popular.
The 20 best-selling games in Europe (January – June 2022)
- This ranking takes boxed and download sales into account, except for Nintendo, which does not communicate on eShop sales.
- Download sales include participating companies’ games sold on Steam, PlayStation Store, Microsoft Store and Nintendo eShop. The main participating companies are Activision Blizzard, Bandai Namco, Bethesda, Capcom, Codemasters, Electronic Arts, Embracer, Focus, Konami, Marvelous, Microids, Microsoft, Milestone, Nacon, Paradox, Quantic Dream, Sega, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Square Enix, Take-Two, Ubisoft and Warner Bros.
01] Elden Ring (Bandai Namco)
02] FIFA 22 (Electronic Arts)
03] Pokemon Legends: Arceus (Nintendo)
04] Grand Theft Auto 5 (Take-Two Interactive)
05] LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (Warner Bros.)
06] Horizon Forbidden West (Sony Interactive Entertainment)
07] Gran Turismo 7 (Sony Interactive Entertainment)
08] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo)
09] Red Dead Redemption 2 (Take-Two Interactive)
10] Nintendo Switch Sports (Nintendo)
11] Mario Party Superstars (Nintendo)
12] Kirby and the Forgotten World (Nintendo)
13] NBA 2K22 (Take-Two Interactive)
14] F1 22 (Electronic Arts)
15] Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition (Nintendo)
16] Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla (Ubisoft)
17] Cerebral Academy: battle of brains (Nintendo)
18] Call of Duty: Vanguard (Activision Blizzard)
19] far cry 6 (Ubisoft)
20] Just Dance 2022 (Ubisoft)