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[yazenov]

For the first six months of the year, the games console hardware market is down 24% with 2.2 million units sold. PS5 is down 16%, Switch down 32% and Xbox Series S and X down 37%. The console market is struggling when put against strong 2023 numbers, a weaker software line-up and the ageing Nintendo Switch platform.

Just under 80 million PC and console games have been sold across Europe for the first six months of 2024, GSD data reveals.


That's a unit sales drop of 1.6% over the start of 2023, which is a strong result considering the comparatively weaker release slate for the first half of this year compared with the year before. The first half of 2023 saw major releases including Hogwarts Legacy, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Diablo IV and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.


By comparison, just two games in the Top Ten best-selling 2024 games (so far) have been released in 2024. Helldivers 2 (at No.2) and The Last of Us: Part 2 Remastered (at No.10).

Note: Palworld data is missing, which would likely have been a key seller, too.

In terms of European game sales in June, 11.3 million video games were sold last month, which is a drop of 19%. June last year was a particularly big one for video games, with major releases including Diablo 4 and Final Fantasy 16. There wasn't a major standalone release this year.


One positive comparison with June last year comes in the form of the football game. EA Sports FC24 was No.1 in June, with sales 7% higher than what FIFA 24 managed during the comparable period. This year's game will have benefitted from the European Championships, which took place in Germany throughout June and July.


Jumping up to second place was Elden Ring, which enjoyed a huge sales increase on the back of its new DLC: Shadow of the Erdtree. Month-on-month, the base game's sales leapt 454%.


The highest charting new game was Luigi's Mansion 2 HD (only physical sales counted, no digital). The game very narrowly misses out on being the fastest selling Nintendo Switch game this year by just 4,000 units. It was beaten by Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, but came out ahead of Princess Peach Showtime and Mario vs Donkey Kong. In terms of launch sales, it's managed just under a third of what Luigi's Mansion 3 achieved during its opening week in 2019

European GSD H1 2024 Top 10 (Digital + Physical)​

Position	Title
1	EA Sports FC 24 (EA)
2	Helldivers 2 (Sony)
3	Grand Theft Auto 5 (Rockstar)
4	Hogwarts Legacy (Warner Bros)
5	Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar)
6	Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Activision Blizzard)
7	Fallout 4 (Bethesda)
8	It Takes Two (EA)
9	Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege (Ubisoft)
10	The Last of Us Part 2: Remastered (Sony)

European GSD June 2024 Top 10 (Digital + Physical)​

Position	Title
1	EA Sports FC 24 (EA)
2	Elden Ring (Bandai Namco)
3	Grand Theft Auto 5 (Rockstar)
4	Sid Meier's Civilization VI (2K Games)
5	Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar)
6	Hogwarts Legacy (Warner Bros)
7	Luigi's Mansion 2 HD (Nintendo)*
8	F1 24 (EA)
9	Grand Theft Auto Online (Rockstar)
10	NBA 2K24 (2K Games)

* Digital data unavailable

European game sales down just 1.6% during the first half of 2024 | European Monthly Charts

Just under 80 million PC and console games have been sold across Europe for the first six months of 2024, GSD data reve…

www.gamesindustry.biz

 

[DenchDeckard]

To be fair,. thats a great result for Playstation. The market has been down between 30 to 40 points but Playstation is managing to buck that trend and only be down 16%. Good on them.

 

[Bernardougf]

Second party games dont move consoles .. news at eleven

 

[T-0800]

To be fair,. thats a great result for Playstation. The market has been down between 30 to 40 points but Playstation is managing to buck that trend and only be down 16%. Good on them.

Yes and especially so when you consider that early last year was the first time you could easily buy one. YoY figures for PS5 were always going to be down the question was only by how much. Switch is old so that explains itself and Xbox have shot themselves in the head.

 

[ricardo_sousa11]

Waiting for a sale on PS5 for a while now, but I really only wanna play GTA6, so theres time.

 

[yazenov]

To be fair,. thats a great result for Playstation. The market has been down between 30 to 40 points but Playstation is managing to buck that trend and only be down 16%. Good on them.

It's a great result as you mentioned for PS5 also because PS5 hardware sales flew off the shelves due to pent-up demand relief from shortages from the previous years, and the release of Hogwarts Legacy was a megaton hit.

It's awful for Xbox because it was already selling like shit last year.

The switch decline is expected due to the aging hardware as mentioned in the article

 

[Ozriel]

Second party games dont move consoles .. news at eleven

Strange point to make when the biggest console mover of last year was a third party game.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

To be fair,. thats a great result for Playstation. The market has been down between 30 to 40 points but Playstation is managing to buck that trend and only be down 16%. Good on them.

It’s great for PlayStation because PS5 didn’t decline as much as Switch (in its 8th year) and Xbox Series (which has practically been circling the drain, and its exclusives getting ported to PS5)?

Sorry man that just sounds like some copium. “Less bad” maybe, but definitely not “great”.

 

[twilo99]

As “gen z” continue to replace the gaming populace, console sales will continue to decline proportionately, with the natural market fluctuations of course.

Don’t even wanna think about what gen alpha are gonna do..

Gorilla tag seems to be a thing but u know..

 

[ulantan]

It’s great for PlayStation because PS5 didn’t decline as much as Switch (in its 8th year) and Xbox Series (which has practically been circling the drain, and its exclusives getting ported to PS5)?

Sorry man that just sounds like some copium. “Less bad” maybe, but definitely not “great”.

We are in the back half of a generation sales are supposed to decline, especially after the monster numbers of last year. 16% is really good.

 

[GHG]

Strange point to make when the biggest console mover of last year was a third party game.

As a platform holder you can control what does get made for your platform from a first and second party perspective, but you have no control over the quality (and potential success) of the 3rd party releases.

Relying solely on 3rd party releases and having nothing to incetivise people to purchase your platform is a gamble.

 

[Astray]

As “gen z” continue to replace the gaming populace, console sales will continue to decline proportionately, with the natural market fluctuations of course.

Don’t even wanna think about what gen alpha are gonna do..

Gorilla tag seems to be a thing but u know..

Except Europe on average is getting older.

There will be less European Gen Zers than millenials or Gen Xers.

Brussels sounds alarm about EU's rapidly ageing population

The European Union's rapidly ageing population threatens to undermine the bloc's competitiveness, exacerbate labour shortages, inflate public budgets and deepen regional inequalities. #ThisWillImpactYourLife

www.euronews.com

 

[Ozriel]

As a platform holder you can control what does get made for your platform from a first and second party perspective, but you have no control over the quality (and potential success) of the 3rd party releases.

Relying solely on 3rd party releases and having nothing to incetivise people to purchase your platform is a gamble.

It wasn’t a jab at first party games. I read his comment earlier as being targeted at the likes of Stellar Blade and Helldivers 2, and possibly Rebirth being unable to drive sales as much because they’re second party.

Point is, it’s really dependent on other factors like game quality and even marketing deals, especially when Hogwarts Legacy did the business for PlayStation in H1 2023.

I may have misinterpreted his comment.

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

As “gen z” continue to replace the gaming populace, console sales will continue to decline proportionately, with the natural market fluctuations of course.

Don’t even wanna think about what gen alpha are gonna do..

Gorilla tag seems to be a thing but u know..

Consoles are getting more expensive and gen z is barely working yet. Those days when we were kids that consoles were easily accessible to parents is long gone.

About consoles sales…wait a year with the Switch successor, PS5 and a price reduction (im expecting one with the Pro releasing), PS5 Pro and GTAVI about to drop and you’ll see these numbers grow for 2025 and 2026.

Not much happening in the gaming market right now. Yes lots of games releasing but nothing like last years Zelda or Hogwarts Legacy that would move units.

In fact PS5 only decreasing 16% is a surprise for me.

 

[DenchDeckard]

It’s great for PlayStation because PS5 didn’t decline as much as Switch (in its 8th year) and Xbox Series (which has practically been circling the drain, and its exclusives getting ported to PS5)?

Sorry man that just sounds like some copium. “Less bad” maybe, but definitely not “great”.

well, yeah its not great to be down but to be less down than the market average means they are booking the trend by quite a bit.

 

[Mownoc]

Xbox had a terrible 2023, to have dropped 37%.... Xbox may as well not exist in mainland Europe.

 

[jm89]

16% drop for the ps5 is decent considering last year they had a huge surge of sales.

I can't find the numbers for last year, but if the xbox drop of 37% is coming off a previous drop from last year in europe, that is awful.

Reducing marketing should help

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

Xbox had a terrible 2023, to have dropped 37%.... Xbox may as well not exist in mainland Europe.

Xbox sold 54k in europe in November last year. Imagine how it must've done earlier this year.

TLOU2 Remastered being #10 for europe is amazing though. I created a topic thinking it was for the UK...but it's actually not.

I can only imagine those sales increasing with Season 2 and 3 of the TV show releasing and the PC version as well. The game will probably be at around 25/30M by the time it celebrates its 10th anniversary.

 

[rodrigolfp]

Europe graduating to PC too?

 

[kazuyamishima]

It’s great for PlayStation because PS5 didn’t decline as much as Switch (in its 8th year) and Xbox Series (which has practically been circling the drain, and its exclusives getting ported to PS5)?

Sorry man that just sounds like some copium. “Less bad” maybe, but definitely not “great”.

The system is 550 euros in most European countries and almost 500 quids in the UK.

I don’t think any other system could do these numbers at this price.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

We are in the back half of a generation sales are supposed to decline, especially after the monster numbers of last year. 16% is really good.

PS4 was up about 5% in the first half of its 4th year compared to the first half of its 3rd year:

Business Data & Sales

Sony Interactive Entertainment offers its business and sales information for those seeking to understand our sales wins.

sonyinteractive.com

5.9m Jan-June 2016
6.2m Jan-June 2017

 

[violence]

Covid is over.

 

[kazuyamishima]

PS4 was up about 5% in the first half of its 4th year compared to the first half of its 3rd year:

PS4 was also between 249-299 €/$ or 30k yen against a $499/€550 and 67k yen PS5.

If you think that price is not a factor, yes it is.

 

[Mownoc]

16% drop for the ps5 is decent considering last year they had a huge surge of sales.

I can't find the numbers for last year, but if the xbox drop of 37% is coming off a previous drop from last year in europe, that is awful.

Reducing marketing should help

Can't find YoY for H1 2023 as a whole just the individual months.

Month (2023)	PS5 YoY	XBS YoY
Jan	+202%	-32
Feb	+400%	+13
Mar	+400%	-13
Apr	+144%	+19
May	+81%	-16
June	+116%	-0.8

So an average monthly increase YoY of 224% for PS5 and an average monthly decrease YoY of 5% for Xbox in H1 2023.

The YoY % change for the half of the year combined won't be the same as the average but for illustration purposes if it was that would mean that 2024 compared to 2022 the PS5 is up by 172% and Xbox compared to 2022 is down by 40%.

2023 was a great year for PS5 so a smallish decline from that isn't too bad, but a large decline from an already poor year for xbox is terrible. But we already knew xbox sales are awful.

 

[Jaybe]

Microsoft’s next quarterly statement: as we have invested in streaming partnerships like Amazon Firestick and Nvidia GeForce Now, we will no longer be reporting Xbox console metrics

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

PS4 was also between 249-299 €/$ or 30k yen against a $499/€550 and 67k yen PS5.

If you think that price is not a factor, yes it is.

Oh ok. Well other people were telling me that sales are supposed to be declining by this point in the generation and -16% is “great”, so I guess we can say that’s false?

 

[alucard0712_rus]

Need to put GTA5 as a sticker for those charts

 

[Unknown?]

Xbox had a terrible 2023, to have dropped 37%.... Xbox may as well not exist in mainland Europe.

Yeah it's pretty bad, soon will be at Japan levels.

 

[H-I-M]

I just don't understand how the Xbox keeps having the biggest drops, while already being at rock bottom.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

16% drop for the ps5 is decent considering last year they had a huge surge of sales.

I can't find the numbers for last year, but if the xbox drop of 37% is coming off a previous drop from last year in europe, that is awful.

Reducing marketing should help

2023
Playstation 5 (+177%)
Switch (-<10%)
Xbox Series (- <18%)

Xbox is dead in Europe, but it's fragility is being experienced in North America as well.

Europe graduating to PC too?

 

[kazuyamishima]

Oh ok. Well other people were telling me that sales are supposed to be declining by this point in the generation, so I guess we can say that’s false?

The PS4 followed this path since launch:

Launch price €399
October 2015 €349
September 2016 Slim release €299
By H1 2017 there were a lot of deals at €249

Also, the pro releases in November 2016 at €399.

Now, let’s see the PS5 path:
Launch price €499
September 2022 €549
November 2023 Slim release €549.

Decreasing the base price plus a steady release of high quality of console exclusives will surely increase the number of people upgrading from the previous gen or getting a new system coming from other ecosystem.

NONE of the above has been met for the PS5, so yes, the result is indeed great.

 

[Mownoc]

Oh ok. Well other people were telling me that sales are supposed to be declining by this point in the generation and -16% is “great”, so I guess we can say that’s false?

There are many factors at play for why the PS5 is declining this year more than the PS4 at this point in it's lifetime. Though if you look at the equivalent calendar or fiscal years the PS4 shipments also started declining this year.

But due to the stock limitations earlier in it's life, the explosive growth in 2023 due to pent-up demand finally being met and the pricing situation it's too simplistic to just point at other consoles sales curves as judgement of if the PS5 is declining too much this year.

 

[PharaoTutAnchAmun]

European GSD H1 2024 Top 10 (Digital + Physical)​

Position	Title
1	EA Sports FC 24 (EA)
2	Helldivers 2 (Sony)
3	Grand Theft Auto 5 (Rockstar)
4	Hogwarts Legacy (Warner Bros)
5	Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar)
6	Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Activision Blizzard)
7	Fallout 4 (Bethesda)
8	It Takes Two (EA)
9	Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege (Ubisoft)
10	The Last of Us Part 2: Remastered (Sony)

European GSD June 2024 Top 10 (Digital + Physical)​

Position	Title
1	EA Sports FC 24 (EA)
2	Elden Ring (Bandai Namco)
3	Grand Theft Auto 5 (Rockstar)
4	Sid Meier's Civilization VI (2K Games)
5	Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar)
6	Hogwarts Legacy (Warner Bros)
7	Luigi's Mansion 2 HD (Nintendo)*
8	F1 24 (EA)
9	Grand Theft Auto Online (Rockstar)
10	NBA 2K24 (2K Games)

* Digital data unavailable

European game sales down just 1.6% during the first half of 2024 | European Monthly Charts

Just under 80 million PC and console games have been sold across Europe for the first six months of 2024, GSD data reve…

www.gamesindustry.biz

Perhaps a lot of people had to pay for theyr vacation? Its vacation time in Europe, in the summer sales for gameconsoles in the vacation period are always in a dip. Its summertime after all....

 

[Unknown?]

Europe graduating to PC too?

Quite the opposite. Germany used to be PC land but consoles have gained there since the mid 2000s.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

I just don't understand how the Xbox keeps having the biggest drops, while already being at rock bottom.

All about momentum and direction. It makes complete sense that as they sell less units, fewer people push others to buy it.

In Europe it's all about EA FC. Once a version doesn't release on PS4, so many people will buy a PS5 to keep playing it. GTA6 will also drive PS5 sales in Europe. Sony isn't worried about Europe.

Xbox on the other hand? What is driving it in Europe? They keep promising better games and when the next game approaches it's a disaster. But wait check out the upcoming slate of games, it looks great... They said the same thing about Hellblade 2, now they're talking about Avowed that is retooling its combat late in the game. Indiana Jones is a 1st person game, which is always going to be a disaster for that character.

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

The PS4 followed this path since launch:

Launch price €399
October 2015 €349
September 2016 Slim release €299
By H1 2017 there were a lot of deals at €249

Also, the pro releases in November 2016 at €399.

Now, let’s see the PS5 path:
Launch price €499
September 2022 €549
November 2023 Slim release €549.

Decreasing the base price plus a steady release of high quality of console exclusives will surely increase the number of people upgrading from the previous gen or getting a new system coming from other ecosystem.

NONE of the above has been met for the PS5, so yes, the result is indeed great.

Exactly. PS5's second wave of interest is yet to come.

The Pro releasing, price reductions, PS studios pumping out games like there's no tomorrow is yet to happen for the PS5 due to longer development cycles (it's mind blowing to me all the studios are working on PS5 games and most we don't know about lmao), GTAVI releasing is yet to happen (and lets face it...the game will basically be almost exclusive until it releases on PC. no one is buying an Xbox for that specially if Sony has marketing rights to it).

In the end their PS5 strategy is better actually. By the time most PS5 exclusives launch, PS5 sales will be at least 70M.

Times have changed and we can't simply compare generations. Sony also underestimated how a price increase would hurt their projections last year. I think they won't make that mistake again.

 

[kazuyamishima]

The Pro releasing, price reductions, PS studios pumping out games like there's no tomorrow is yet to happen for the PS5 due to longer development cycles (it's mind blowing to me all the studios are working on PS5 games and most we don't know about lmao), GTAVI releasing is yet to happen (and lets face it...the game will basically be almost exclusive until it releases on PC. no one is buying an Xbox for that specially if Sony has marketing rights to it).

In the end their PS5 strategy is better actually. By the time most PS5 exclusives launch, PS5 sales will be at least 70M.

Times have changed and we can't simply compare generations. Sony also underestimated how a price increase would hurt their projections last year. I think they won't make that mistake again

PS5 Pro + EA sports FC 26 + COD 2026 on current gen only + GTAVI all the same in 2025, yeah, it could be a great year for Sony in Europe.

 

[AyraSutoraifu]

Europe graduating to PC too?

This PC narrative needs to fucking stop and be bannable… not funny, clever or whatever intensions there are.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Oh ok. Well other people were telling me that sales are supposed to be declining by this point in the generation and -16% is “great”, so I guess we can say that’s false?

Surely you possess greater critical thinking skills than this?

 

[Mibu no ookami]

PS5 Pro + EA sports FC 26 + COD 2026 on current gen only + GTAVI all the same in 2025, yeah, it could be a great year for Sony in Europe.

I wouldn't be surprised if annual sales in 2025 are higher than 2024.

 

[yurinka]

Europe graduating to PC too?

No, the PS active userbase is increasing, not declining.

All console sales make a curve and PS5's peak year was last year, so it's normal to have a decline now.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

The PS4 followed this path since launch:

Launch price €399
October 2015 €349
September 2016 Slim release €299
By H1 2017 there were a lot of deals at €249

Also, the pro releases in November 2016 at €399.

Now, let’s see the PS5 path:
Launch price €499
September 2022 €549
November 2023 Slim release €549.

Decreasing the base price plus a steady release of high quality of console exclusives will surely increase the number of people upgrading from the previous gen or getting a new system coming from other ecosystem.

NONE of the above has been met for the PS5, so yes, the result is indeed great.

I agree with everything you said, but I have a hard time seeing “they just need to drop the price and release a steady stream of high quality exclusives, then sales will really take off” as “great”.

Yes, all they need to do is 2 things that are extremely difficult, that they haven’t been able to do yet, then things will be soooo much better.

Might as well say “yeah McDonald’s sales are dropping, but this is great because all they need to do is decrease their prices and make better food, then sales will rebound”.

 

[Mr.Phoenix]

Sony is playing chicken with its pricing...

4 years into a new gen and still no price drop. And people wonder why sales are slowing.

You don't drop the price, the baseline drops.

 

[akaFullmetal]

Crazy seeing Nintendo do so well with such an old system. Sony only dropping a little after the massive 2023 year is good. Microsoft still declining and falling behind Xbox One sales, need to add life into that system.

 

[rodrigolfp]

This PC narrative needs to fucking stop and be bannable… not funny, clever or whatever intensions there are.

Not before all the anti Xbox "narratives".

 

[Hudo]

Sony is playing chicken with its pricing...

4 years into a new gen and still no price drop. And people wonder why sales are slowing.

You don't drop the price, the baseline drops.

In fact, they've increased PS5 prices in certain regions. They've probably seen that Nintendo are selling their stuff without any price drop whatsoever, so they can do the same.

I wonder how they will price the PS5 Pro. Good Guy Sony would price the PS5 Pro at the current PS5 price and drop the price of the regular PS5. Bad Guy Sony would just sell the PS5 Pro for >=$700 and keep the current PS5 price point.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Sony is playing chicken with its pricing...

4 years into a new gen and still no price drop. And people wonder why sales are slowing.

You don't drop the price, the baseline drops.

Profitability is more important than units sold... Units sold at greater losses simply limits your ability to grow.

You think Sony is playing chicken, with inherently negative connotations, but in reality, they're trying to run a growth-based operation.

They don't need to sell as many PS5 units in 2024. 2025 could very well be a recovery year, with similar or the same pricing.

 

[UchihaMadara]

From Installbase

 

[Woopah]

Not bad for LM2 but I'm glad PM did better (if only marginally)

Second party games dont move consoles .. news at eleven

How would you define second party? I don't think this is true at all.

 

[TrippleA345]

From Installbase