Compared to other places across the world, European game sales suffered the least. The UK experienced a decline of 30% in the first half of 2024, whereas European game sales only experienced a decrease of 1.9% in the first half of 2024.
According to a Games Sales Data report, 80 million games were sold across Europe in the first half of 2024 on PC and console. Compared to other parts of the world, this is a solid start to the year for Europe, as there weren’t many hard-hitting games released in the first half of the year compared to 2023. For example, the first half of 2023 saw games such as The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Star Wars: Jedi Survivor, and Diablo IV be released and be hugely successful right out of the gate.
Only two of the top ten best-selling games of 2024 were released this year: Helldivers 2 and The Last of Us: Part 2 Remastered. Compared to other big releases, these games had a lower selling price than other AAA games released in recent years, which has helped contribute to the boost in sales.
Looking at European game sales in June at a glance, 11.3 million video games were sold in the last month, which is a drop of 19% from June 2023. June 2023 saw some big releases, such as Diablo IV and Final Fantasy 16, which helped elevate sales massively. However, June 2024 did not see a big AAA game come through this month, which has led to a decline in sales.
The one huge positive for this half of the year was the release of the Elden Ring DLC. Looking at month-on-month data, sales shot up by 454% for the base game of Elden Ring alone. For the highest charted game of this half of the year, it goes to Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD. However, only physical sales for this game were counted, with no data on how many digital sales the game received.
Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD was nearly the fastest-selling Nintendo Switch game this year, but it narrowly avoided the title, with Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door taking its place instead. Nintendo has had a jam-packed first half of the year, with games such as Princess Peach: Showtime and Mario vs. Donkey Kong also being released in the first half.
While most places have their digital and physical data tracked, Nintendo’s digital data for Europe is missing, making it difficult to know if they are excelling in sales or falling behind.
Overall, European game sales have stayed strong for the first half of the year, with a very minimal decline compared to the UK and the US.
