Video game sales figures in Europe fell in October. Sales of console and PC games are down, but in fact hide a very good performance when we remember that Call of Duty was released in November this year against October last year

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The PS5 is selling like buns and the Xboxes are in trouble

Console sales are an interesting indicator of brand awareness, and unsurprisingly, Sony is once again dominating the market.

The PS5 is the best-selling console in Europe (UK and Germany not included). The figures show an increase of 143% over last year, driven by stocks and the release of Spider-Man. The Sony console is even +10% compared to September.

Nintendo Switch sales, however, are down 20%, but the console still ranks second in console sales. The Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S took third place with sales down 52% over the year. So there doesn’t seem to have been a Forza Motorsport effect. As a reminder, despite the release of Starfield in September, Xbox console sales were down 28% while those of the PS5 were up 175%.

Microsoft has not been releasing its figures for a long time, but it is possible that Microsoft is not achieving the expected results. Even the number of Xbox Game Pass subscribers has not been updated since January 2022 when it stood at 25 million members. Analyst MauroNL3 confirms that Xbox is in trouble in Europe with a sales report of 7 PS5 sold for 1 Xbox in many markets.

EA succeeds in its transition from Fifa to EA Sports FC

10.21 million games for PCs and consoles were sold in Europe according to GSD, data recovered by Gameindustry. This represents a slight decrease of 2.3% compared to the previous year, but with one fewer Call of Duty this year, it’s actually a very good performance.

These data cover all games sold digitally by most major game publishers in the euro area as well as sales of physical games in all major euro area markets.

Unsurprisingly, EA Sports FC 24 found itself at the top of the standings, a position Electronic Arts is accustomed to with its historical license at that time. Even though sales are down 10%, EA can be proud to have successfully launched its new franchise, given that it was supported by last year’s World Cup.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage and Spider-Man 2 are back and forth, but Ubisoft’s game has enjoyed an additional two weeks of sales. It’s hard to say if the game’s performance is up to the French publisher’s expectations, but we do know that Mirage’s sales are more than 49% lower than those managed by Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, but 22% higher than those of Odyssey in 2018 and 6% higher than those of Assassin’s Creed Origins in 2017. The development of the game was probably shorter due to the reduced score of the game, we imagine that Ubisoft is quite satisfied.

As for Spider-Man 2 on PS5, sales are up almost 30% compared to Spider-Man 2018 and represent almost three times the sales of Spider-Man: Miles Morales 2020. Super Mario Bros Wonder might have made it to the podium if its sales figures included the dematerialized versions of the games, figures that Nintendo does not share.

Top 10 video game sales in October 2023 in Europe

  • 1. EA Sports FC 24 (EA)
  • 2. Assassin’s Creed Mirage (Ubisoft)
  • 3. Spider-Man 2 (Sony)
  • 4. Super Mario Bros Wonder (Nintendo)*
  • 5. Grand Theft Auto 5 (Rockstar)
  • 6. Lords of the Fallen 2023 (CI Games)
  • 7. Battlefield 2042 (EA)
  • 8. Hogwarts Legacy (Warner Bros)
  • 9. red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar)
  • 10. It Takes Two (EA)