European game sales up slightly in December | European Monthly Charts

16.01.2024 - 11:15 / gamesindustry.biz / Mario Bros

26.6 million PC and Console games were sold across Europe in December, according to the latest GSD data.

December 2022 was a 'five week month', so if we align the weeks, we can see that sales improved 3.6% compared with the same period in 2022.

This data covers all physical game releases in major European markets, and digital game sales from most major publishers.

EA Sports FC24 led the way in December by a considerable margin. However, sales are down 11.5% compared with what FIFA 23 managed in December 2022. There was a football World Cup during the period in 2022, which explains the sales drop.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 falls to No.2 in its second month. Although the game's oveall performance is below the level of previous Call of Duty releases, it remains a major seller across Europe. The Activision Blizzard game stays ahead of Hogwarts Legacy, with the Harry Potter spin-off enjoying its biggest month of sales outside of its initial launch month in February.

Another game that enjoyed a bumper month was Super Mario Bros Wonder. Sales are down very slightly over November, but the Switch exclusive has been a consistent seller since its launch in October.

The new release in the chart is Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, which debuts at No.6. As a point of comparison, its sales are about half of what Assassin's Creed Mirage -- Ubisoft's other big Q4 game -- managed in October. The game's success will depend on how it performs over time.

Over in the hardware space, 1.27 million consoles were sold across tracked European markets during December, which is nearly 16% up over the same four-week period in 2022. This was driven by PS5, which saw sales grow nearly 66% year-on-year. Nintendo Switch had to settle for No.2 spot this year, with sales down 7% compared with December 2022. Xbox Series S and X remains third, with sales down more than 19% year-on-year.

In terms of accessories and other add-on products, 3.5 million products were sold across tracked markets in December, which is 11% up over the same period the year before.

*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, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus,