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[jm89]

13.6 million PC and console games were sold in March across Europe, a slight drop of 4% compared with the same period in 2022.

That means for the first quarter of the year, 39 million games have been sold, which is a drop of 11% over last year.

This is according to the latest GSD data, which tracks physical games across major European markets, plus digital downloads from most major games publishers (full list at the bottom of the story).

Hogwarts Legacy is comfortably the best-selling game of the quarter and it is the fastest selling game in Europe (outside of the FIFA franchise) since the GSD charts started in 2017.

Despite this, last year featured a larger number of big releases, including Elden Ring, Pokemon Legends: Arceus, Horizon: Forbidden West and Gran Turismo 7.

Hogwarts may be the biggest game of the quarter, but it was Resident Evil 4 that claimed No.1 in March. Capcom's horror remake grabbed the top spot after just two weeks on sale.

Resident Evil 4's first two week sales across Europe was 19% lower than 2021's Resident Evil Village and 11% lower than 2019's Resident Evil 2 remake. But it's up 57% compared with the remake of Resident Evil 3 in 2020.

Looking at a more recent horror game, Resident Evil 4's first two weeks are up 149% compared with the remake of Dead Space, which was released in January.

Also new in March was WWE 2K23, which makes No.8. The game's opening sales (first three weeks) are down 28% compared with WWE 2K22. Last year's game followed a lengthy gap for the series, which may have benefitted its launch due to additional pent-up demand.

There is no Nintendo game in the Top Ten for March. The highest charting title was actually Metroid Prime Remastered at No.11. It's impossible to know how this game truly performed, as it was initially released digitally in February. Nintendo is the main company that doesn't share digital data with the charts company.

PS5 SALES CONTINUE TO SURGE

Console hardware sales were up 67% to 570,000 units sold across selected European countries during March, driven by huge sales for PS5.

(The countries include France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland and Portugal. For the full list, see below. For UK console data, click here)

Across those markets, PS5 sales are up by five times in March 2023 compared with the year before. In 2022 there had been severe stock shortages for Sony's console.

The surge in PlayStation sales offset declines elsewhere, Switch sales are down 19% across the markets compared with March 2022, while Xbox Series S and X sales are down 13%.

For the first quarter of the year, 1.5m consoles have been sold across the selected countries, which is a rise of 41% over the first quarter of last year. PS5 leads the market with a 369% year-on-year sales rise, followed by Switch (down 18%) and then Xbox Series S and X (down 10%).

In terms of accessories, 1.5 million add-on products were sold across the markets, a rise of 13% over the year before. This was again because of improved console hardware sales boosting sales of accessories. The best-selling product was the PS5 DualSense Controller.

For the first quarter of the year, 4.7 million accessories have been sold, which is a rise of over 5% year-on-year.

Finally, in terms of points cards and wallet, 1.9m of these were sold in March 2023, a drop of 1.9% over the same period in 2022.

European GSD March 2023 Top 10 (Digital + Physical)​

Position	Title
1	Resident Evil 4 (Capcom)
2	Hogwarts Legacy (Warner Bros)
3	FIFA 23 (EA)
4	Grand Theft Auto 5 (Rockstar)
5	Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Activision Blizzard)
6	Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar)
7	WWE 2K23 (2K Games)
8	F1 22 (Capcom)
9	NBA 2K23 (2K Games)
10	Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege (Ubisoft)

* Digital data unavailable

Source:https://www.gamesindustry.biz/q1-pc...down-11-across-europe-european-monthly-charts

 

[lh032]

nice, hopefully Sony announce a showcase asap.

 

[Nothing1234]

369% increase Jesus Christ.

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

Jesus Christ…PS5 sales up 369%

Sonys next quarter numbers will be something for sure! When’s that?

 

[jm89]

369% increase Jesus Christ.

Ah man i should have put that in the title, much more attention grabbing

 

[Nothing1234]

Ah man i should have put that in the title, much more attention grabbing

For the first quarter of the year, 1.5m consoles have been sold across the selected countries, which is a rise of 41% over the first quarter of last year. PS5 leads the market with a 369% year-on-year sales rise, followed by Switch (down 18%) and then Xbox Series S and X (down 10%).

 

[Mr Hyde]

PS5 is stomping Xbox series- consoles so hard it's not even funny. This gen was over before it even started. MS has a damn near impossible task ahead turning around their console business, because right now it's as good as dead.

 

[Ronin_7]

PlayStation has achieved iPhone like status.

 

[Mung]

Ps5 is omega beast

 

[Tsaki]

Excellent PS5 sales, accompanied by extra Dualsense sales. I wonder about the revenue of the Dualsense Edge and how much is its profit margin. It is a premium accessory so the margins must be pretty high. Also, why is RDR2 up in the least?

 

[winjer]

369% increase Jesus Christ.

No wonder. After 2 years of limited availability, TSMC finally has some extra wafers for Sony.

 

[MDSLKTR]

Carrying the whole industry

 

[ADiTAR]

Shocking that Cereza isn't in the top 10 with the amount of no money Nintendo spent on marketing.

 

[T-Cake]

That's me! I bought a PS5 (again) and a spangly SSD to put in it

 

[AlexxKidd]

 

[Ordnasella_Edadnirt]

This is absolutely insane, imagine how this numbers will look like when the PS Showcase drops and major titles like FFXVI and Spider-Man 2 become available

 

[Skifi28]

 

[jm89]

This is absolutely insane, imagine how this numbers will look like when the PS Showcase drops and major titles like FFXVI and Spider-Man 2 become available

And they still have a price drop and slim revision to kick things up a gear.

 

[ulantan]

People really think they gonna fire jim.

 

[reksveks]

When’s that?

28th April.

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

28th April.

Next week then! Thanks!
Great numbers for them then!

 

[DarthPutin]

I have to think that these elevated sales account for continued success of GOW: Ragnarok. It's a new "buy with" game for PS5, and people are finally getting their hands on those.

Also agree that PS5 became a "must have" prestige item. Some people probably buy it and barely play on it, but at least now they "have a PS5". Shortages probably helped with this, ironically.

 

[Flutta]

I remember those day when people were compring PS5 shortage to Xbox like they were the same…. and we kept telling them that if PS5 didn’t have a shortage issue the series wouldn’t sell half of what they’ve sold so far.

I’m not even surprised to see these numbers really. It was written on the wall from day one, but people love to day dream.

 

[Tsaki]

And they still have a price drop and slim revision to kick things up a gear.

I'm curious about the "slim" version. It will probably be a more comprehensive tidying up of the motherboard, using 6nm for the SoC (it already exists in current models), removing the traces for the BR drive, possibly a heatsink volume reduction. But what will happen to the outer appearance of the console? Sony now sells custom plates for the PS5. Will those be compatible with the new model? Will they create new plates and slowly phase out those that already released? How will the attachable drive stay alongside the PS5? Will it attach on the console shell or will it be beside it like an external HDD?

 

[mckmas8808]

PS5 is stomping Xbox series- consoles so hard it's not even funny. This gen was over before it even started. MS has a damn near impossible task ahead turning around their console business, because right now it's as good as dead.

They put all their eggs in the GamePass basket thinking that would win over most gamers. It hasn't.

 

[Captain Toad]

There's no stopping this train.

 

[mckmas8808]

I have to think that these elevated sales account for continued success of GOW: Ragnarok. It's a new "buy with" game for PS5, and people are finally getting their hands on those.

Also agree that PS5 became a "must have" prestige item. Some people probably buy it and barely play on it, but at least now they "have a PS5". Shortages probably helped with this, ironically.

The bolded is just pure hate. Get that out your system.

 

[Captain Toad]

Obligatory, "That's because <insert territory> is PlayStation country".

 

[yazenov]

They put all their eggs in the GamePass basket thinking that would win over most gamers. It hasn't.

The Netflix of gaming. lol

it's a shame we didn't have the splits for RE4 remake for the Euro charts. Someone ask Christopher Dring on Twitter

 

[Fake]

HL legs are good as usual.

 

[Snake29]

PS is carying the console market and Xbox is again the biggest joke in the console industry.

 

[Fake]

Wait, no Nintendo games at top 10?

 

[DarthPutin]

The bolded is just pure hate. Get that out your system.

Wat? What hate. PS5 is awesome and we know it has majority of AAA sales. But when something becomes "prestige purchase" there will be people buying it without really needing it. Like people who go in debt to get newest iPhone when they could be perfectly served with budget Xiaomi model.

At the end of the day, it's more sales for Sony and imprints brand as a thing "to have" if you're interested in gaming at all.

I am not even sure how one hates a gaming system. It's the only one I care about ATM but I still don't remotely hate others. That's too much emotion to have.

 

[Flutta]

They put all their eggs in the GamePass basket thinking that would win over most gamers. It hasn't.

What else can they do with a leadership like that. Clearly the majority of gamers don’t like to rent games, something MS is trying their hardest to change by buying up some of the biggest IP’s to be on their renting service to lure in more gamers.

W’ll see how it all plays out in the end, however i do believe this losing streak will continue untill they eventually
”give up”

 

[Zok310]

JimRyan about to snap the high end console competition out of eu

 

[Ordnasella_Edadnirt]

They put all their eggs in the GamePass basket thinking that would win over most gamers. It hasn't.

Gamepass may suceed in the future but the current state of the industry is going to the opposite direction, last year we saw records of sales for Elden Ring and GOWR and this year with Hogwarts Legacy and RE4R, this proves that people are keen on acquiring games but for that the games have to deliver. quality is being more evaluated then quantity.

 

[mckmas8808]

The Netflix of gaming. lol

it's a shame we didn't have the splits for RE4 remake for the Euro charts. Someone ask Christopher Dring on Twitter

Ohhh!!!! Good point.

Wat? What hate. PS5 is awesome and we know it has majority of AAA sales. But when something becomes "prestige purchase" there will be people buying it without really needing it. Like people who go in debt to get newest iPhone when they could be perfectly served with budget Xiaomi model.

At the end of the day, it's more sales for Sony and imprints brand as a thing "to have" if you're interested in gaming at all.

I am not even sure how one hates a gaming system. It's the only one I care about ATM but I still don't remotely hate others. That's too much emotion to have.

I was using the word "hate" in the so-called urban slang way. Not you literally hating Playstation. But it is hating when you can't just give full credit where it's due. You're taking away from what Sony has done so far by presenting this notion that people are just blindly spending $550 on a console that they really don't need or kinda didn't want. People are only buying the PS5 because they want it in their lives.

No need to qualify it. And as an Android guy myself, I'd never put that hate out their for the iPhone either. People like what they like.

What else can they do with a leadership like that. Clearly the majority of gamers don’t like to rent games, something MS is trying their hardest to change by buying up some of the biggest IP’s to be on their renting service to lure in more gamers.

W’ll see how it all plays out in the end, however i do believe this losing streak will continue untill they eventually
”give up”

If MS gives up Gamepass at any point, I think that means they are going 3rd party.

 

[Flabagast]

Sony has gone full fucking beast

I dont see Microsoft recovering tbh

 

[solidus12]

 

[Kerotan]

PS5 is stomping Xbox series- consoles so hard it's not even funny. This gen was over before it even started. MS has a damn near impossible task ahead turning around their console business, because right now it's as good as dead.

The funny thing is people thought Xbox would make a comeback because they made a cheap ass half next gen Series X. Thank god it didn't succeed because that's a stupid precedent we don't need next gen console's doing.

And the funny thing is PlayStation premium has a better collection of games and that's without first party even going there Day 1. It's like Sony ain't even trying.

 

[Flutta]

Ohhh!!!! Good point.



I was using the word "hate" in the so-called urban slang way. Not you literally hating Playstation. But it is hating when you can't just give full credit where it's due. You're taking away from what Sony has done so far by presenting this notion that people are just blindly spending $550 on a console that they really don't need or kinda didn't want. People are only buying the PS5 because they want it in their lives.

No need to qualify it. And as an Android guy myself, I'd never put that hate out their for the iPhone either. People like what they like.



If MS gives up Gamepass at any point, I think that means they are going 3rd party.

Hmm i think GP will live on in some form or another. W’ll prob see a mobile version, TV version, console version of GP etc. What i think will happen is they will prob kill off their console business first.

 

[Brucey]

For the first quarter of the year, 1.5m consoles have been sold across the selected countries, which is a rise of 41% over the first quarter of last year. PS5 leads the market with a 369% year-on-year sales rise, followed by Switch (down 18%) and then Xbox Series S and X (down 10%).

I wish Henry Panic was here to explain to us how Xbox series performance globally is offsetting slowing sales in US and UK.

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

I remember those day when people were compring PS5 shortage to Xbox like they were the same…. and we kept telling them that if PS5 didn’t have a shortage issue the series wouldn’t sell half of what they’ve sold so far.

I’m not even surprised to see these numbers really. It was written on the wall from day one, but people love to day dream.

Yeah...to think a year ago people were like "oh they are so close. Great recovery from Xbox" and...well...it was obvious what was happening.
If anything last year's Xbox sales happened because you couldn't find a PS5. Now that you can, that's the go-to console again.

Gamepass may suceed in the future but the current state of the industry is going to the opposite direction, last year we saw records of sales for Elden Ring and GOWR and this year with Hogwarts Legacy and RE4R, this proves that people are keen on acquiring games but for that the games have to deliver. quality is being more evaluated then quantity.

Gamepass has been going for half a decade and we don't have a single update in terms of subscribers for over a year and half. It's safe to assume it never managed to hit 30M subscribers. You have games like Hogwarts Legacy, most Nintendo first party games, God of War Ragnarok, as you mentioned Elden Ring, etc selling over 10M copies in like one quarter...people still want to buy games.
Gamepass exists because MS couldn't compete with Sony's model of selling videogames. They said so themselves during the Activision acquisition.

 

[Woopah]

Shocking that Cereza isn't in the top 10 with the amount of no money Nintendo spent on marketing.

It's a Bayonetta spinoff on one platform with no digital included. I would have been shocked if it made the top 20

Wait, no Nintendo games at top 10?

This is going to be pretty common this year. Switch software is in its decline phase, PS5 software is in its growth phase and Nintendo is one of the few publishers not sharing digital.

 

[Brucey]

Hmm i think GP will live on in some form or another. W’ll prob see a mobile version, TV version, console version of GP etc. What i think will happen is they will prob kill off their console business first.

Gamepass streaming is already available on Android and iphones.

And available on select Samsung tvs.

It's literally available to hundreds of millions of potential subscribers. Xbox series is a tiny proportion of addressable market.

 

[solidus12]

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

old news?

 

[Spitfire098]

Yo not a good couple of days for team Green at all

 

[StereoVsn]

Inconceivable! I am calling my Senator right now!

 

[Snake29]

And then showing a dead game like Halo with that tweet lol.

Edit: Sorry he didn't know back then