Starfield Couldn’t Replace Forza Horizon 5 as Biggest Xbox Launch of the Generation in Europe

Yesterday, Circana (formerly NPD) shared September sales data showing that Starfield was a massive success in the United States. The game topped last month’s best-selling chart, becoming the first Bethesda Game Studios title to do so (both The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Fallout 4 debuted in second place) despite its availability on the Game Pass subscription service.

However, Starfield didn’t quite reach the same level of success in Europe. The monthly GSD data published this morning by GamesIndustry shows Starfield coming in second after EA Sports FC 24, which is not unexpected given the power of EA’s football game in the continent.

A little surprising is that the sci-fi RPG couldn’t replace Forza Horizon 5 as the biggest Xbox launch of the generation in Europe. Bethesda’s game sold around 13% less than Playground’s acclaimed open world racing game in the first four weeks.

This is in contrast to the previous report, which claimed Starfield did surpass Forza Horizon 5. However, that report only considered the first week of availability, whereas today’s data compares the whole debut month.

It should be noted that whereas consumer spending increased by 10% year-over-year in the United States, it is slightly down in Europe compared to last September. EA Sports FC 24 also dropped by 10% compared to FIFA 23, while NBA 2K24 is down 17% compared to last year’s installment.

The only game to see an improvement over its predecessor was Ubisoft’s The Crew Motorfest, which sold 6.5% more than The Crew 2. Even Warner Bros. experienced a significant sales drop of 39% with Mortal Kombat 1 against Mortal Kombat 11.

The sales data may be a reflection of the challenging economics experienced by European customers. However, on the hardware charts, PlayStation 5 console sales were up 175% over September 2022, whereas Nintendo Switch and Xbox Series S|X sales were down by 28% and 35% compared to the same timeframe.