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GSD European Sales February 2024 PS5#1(-2%) NSW#2(-17%) XBS#3(-47%) / Helldivers 2#1 FC 24#2 FF VII rebirth#3

Pelta88

Member
Down 47% YOY

0669ee0bffedde38d49330cdbf6e3b20.gif
 

Tsaki

Member
PS5 only -2%. February 2023 had the Hogwarts Legacy release and a significantly improved supply of consoles in Europe after the shortages. Helldivers 2 exclusivity did in fact help someone...
Switch decline is a whatever at this point. It's entered its 8th year of life so if the report said -80% or the actual -17% I don't really know how much it matters; the system has done its job splendidly already.
Xbox with almost -50%.... yeah. This includes whatever boost Xbox got from Palworld's exclusivity. The multiplatform strategy announcement and rumours boiling for weeks would have the most effect on Europeans who already didn't really care for the brand.
This was from last year's report:

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The fact PS5 basically retained its sales this year is kind of insane. That's what happens when you keep having content like Helldivers 2 and FFVII Rebirth i guess.

Now Xbox Series...the console was hitting record lows last year. How can you decline almost 50%? How much is that at this point? 20k? I mean...Xbox Xeries sold like 54k in November last year. 20k for February is probably too much, lmao. 10k?
 

jm89

Member
The Helldivers 2 sale split is really impressive for ps5.

Considering smaller ps5 userbase, and it wasn't available to anyone on ps4s.

Remember ps5 marketshare compared to PS4 is still around 50:50 globally.

And in Europe that might be smaller for ps5, as ps5 is behind the ps4 launch aligned in europe.
 
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Brutal drop for Xbox, smaller than expected drop for PS5 and Switch not too bad. Here is the Full article:

European game sales strong in February thanks to Helldivers 2 | European Monthly Charts​

But a tough month for console sales



Christopher Dring avatar


Data by Christopher Dring Head of Games B2B
Published on March 18, 2024
Follow Interactive Software Federation of Europe

16.74 million video games were sold across Europe during February, according to the latest GSD data.
This is technically a rise of 21.2% over the previous February, however, February 2024 was a five-week month, whereas it was a four-week month in 2023. If we compare this year's number to the same five-week period in 2023, sales are actually down very, very slightly by 0.1%.

Helldivers 2 is a major hit in the UK | UK February Charts image


Helldivers 2 is a major hit in the UK | UK February Charts
Read more on GamesIndustry.biz

It's still a strong result. Last February saw the release of Hogwarts Legacy, which was a major smash hit. To give you an idea of just how big Hogwarts' launch was, its sales after five weeks was greater than the entire Top Ten for February this year.
It's also worth noting that Palworld, which would have been a big performer in February, isn't included in this data as that developer isn't tracked by GSD. So it's not unreasonable to think that February 2024 was actually bigger than 2023.
GSD tracks all games sold via physical retail in most major European markets, and digital sales from most major AAA publishers in all European markets.
The big standout game for the month was Helldivers 2 from Sony. The game was released simultaneously on PC and PS5, and over 56% of its sales came on the PC platform.
It also just kept on selling. Sales for the game increased 70% in its second week, then over 3% in its third week. It has slowed down since, but only slightly, with a sales fall of 28% in week four. As a comparison, most games drop in sales after one week, with falls of between 60 – 80% being the norm.

Persona 3 Reload is February's top-selling title | Japan Monthly Charts image


Persona 3 Reload is February's top-selling title | Japan Monthly Charts
Read more on GamesIndustry.biz

To give you a sense of how that game has done, after four weeks its sales are tracking 5% behind what Sony's previous blockbuster, Spider-Man 2, managed to achieve. Of course, Spider-Man 2 had a higher price point and was only available on PS5.

EA Sports FC 24 continues to do well at No.4, while we have another new release at No.3 in the form of Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth. The game was also available in a double pack with the original Final Fantasy VII: Remake, which makes No.39 in the charts.

Despite a strong critical reception, the second part in the Final Fantasy VII remake trilogy didn't match the performance of the first game, with opening week sales down 23% over its predecessor (including sales of the double pack). Of course, Remake arrived on a different platform with a bigger install base (PS4) and also launched during the early weeks of COVID-19 lockdowns, when games were in higher demand.

Compared with last year's Final Fantasy XVI release, which came out in June, launch sales of this new Final Fantasy are up just under 4%.
The next new game in the charts is Ubisoft's Skull and Bones, which makes No.9. The pirate game's opening three weeks are 30% lower compared with what Sea of Thieves managed during the same period back in March 2018. Sea of Thieves is coming to PS5 this April.

Outside of the Top Ten there's Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League at No.12. We know the game performed below Warner Bros' expectations, but to place its performance in context, its opening five weeks are 33% lower than what Gotham Knights managed in 2022, and 61% lower than what Guardians of the Galaxy managed in 2021.

And finally in the Top 20, Mario vs Donkey Kong debuts at No.15, and Pacific Drive comes in at No.18.

Console sales dip once again

GSD doesn't track all European markets when it comes to console sales. The two major markets missing are Germany and the UK (you can see the UK data here). But for the territories that are included, 474,469 games consoles were sold across Europe in February.

Technically, this is 11% up over the year before, but again this is due to the five week vs four week periods. If we compare the five weeks of February 2024 with the same five weeks in 2023, the actual sales are down 14%.

All three main platforms posted sales drops in February. PS5 is most resilient, with sales down just 2% year-on-year, Switch – which has just turned seven years old– is down 17%, while Xbox continues to struggle with Series S and X sales down 47%.

In terms of accessories and add-ons, 1.6 million of these products were sold across traced European countries, led by the PS5 DualSense and Xbox Wireless controllers.

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

PositionTitle
1Helldivers 2 (Sony)
2EA Sports FC 24 (EA)
3Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (Square Enix)
4Grand Theft Auto 5 (Rockstar)
5Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Activision Blizzard)
6Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar)
7Hogwarts Legacy (Warner Bros)
8It Takes Two (EA)
9Skull and Bones (Ubisoft)
10Need for Speed: Heat (EA)
*Digital data unavailable
 
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Rebirth 23% down on Remake but 4% up on 16. People can doom and gloom all they want but this is a pretty good result considering its a direct sequel to a game released during Covid. Considering its a better game than remake, it should have some decent legs once discounts happen.
Also, Rebirth had a single day of sales.
'We need more remasters and remakes.'
Crazy comment considering Helldivers 2 result.
 

ByWatterson

Member
Rebirth 23% down on Remake but 4% up on 16. People can doom and gloom all they want but this is a pretty good result considering its a direct sequel to a game released during Covid. Considering its a better game than remake, it should have some decent legs once discounts happen.

Yeah I think we can start dispensing the bomba idea. It's doing fine and charting very high for February after one day on the market.
 

Woopah

Member
PS5 and Switch drops are much smaller than I expected, clearly Helldivers 2 and Rebirth helped the former.

Also, Rebirth had a single day of sales.

Crazy comment considering Helldivers 2 result.
Yeah I think we can start dispensing the bomba idea. It's doing fine and charting very high for February after one day on the market.
Usually these charts use full weeks, so Rebirth should have 4 days included.
 

Thick Thighs Save Lives

NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
It's already been pointed out in both the article and earlier in the thread but I'm dumbstruck that the PS5 has managed to keep pace with the volume of units they moved back in Feb 2023 considering 1) Hogwarts Legacy had a huge launch 2) February 2023 wast the 1st month where PS5 was no longer supply constrained on continental Europe. This leads me to believe that HD2 and FF7R moved quite 'a few' PS5 units.

Also, on the software side, they don't even track Palword's sales so the volume of SW units moved most likely increased year-on-year! I'm now really curious to see the Feb 2024 NPD report.

It's also worth noting that Palworld, which would have been a big performer in February, isn't included in this data as that developer isn't tracked by GSD. So it's not unreasonable to think that February 2024 was actually bigger than 2023.
 
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Mr Moose

Member
Do we have % for UK Feb on consoles? UK and Germany aren't included in Europe hardware numbers.
Hopefully we'll get some Germany news soon (or did they stop doing that?).
Edit: Found UK:
PS5 was the leading platform by a large margin, but sales were down 2% month-on-month and 28% year-on-year.

Nintendo Switch just about takes second spot, with Xbox Series S and X in third position. Both platforms saw big drops over the same period in 2023. Currently, the entire console business is 29% down in the UK year-to-date.
 
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SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
I do have to wonder if the PS5 sales wouldve increased had Helldivers been a PS5 exclusive. Losing 56% of the sales are surely some lost sales. Maybe not the full 56% but for a game that went viral like this, i assume at least 5% of the people interested in the game wouldve purchased a console for it.
 

Killjoy-NL

Member
I do have to wonder if the PS5 sales wouldve increased had Helldivers been a PS5 exclusive. Losing 56% of the sales are surely some lost sales. Maybe not the full 56% but for a game that went viral like this, i assume at least 5% of the people interested in the game wouldve purchased a console for it.
Who knows?

Maybe when the Pro releases, PC gamers will jump over to play HD2 at 1440p/60.
 
I do have to wonder if the PS5 sales wouldve increased had Helldivers been a PS5 exclusive. Losing 56% of the sales are surely some lost sales. Maybe not the full 56% but for a game that went viral like this, i assume at least 5% of the people interested in the game wouldve purchased a console for it.

I know a few people who bought a playstation 5 just for this game. They did have PS4s though.
 

NickFire

Member
This has been a weird day for gaming news. On Sony's end I started the day reading about PSVR2 underperforming (again) and the pro specs targeting less than native 4k60. I end the day reading they are only down 2% in Europe (despite no Hogwarts this year) and that Helldivers 2 is doing crazy numbers. On MS end I started the day reading about a new devkit in Korea. I end the day reading they are down 47% in Europe. Based on how the day started for each, I'd forgive someone if they thought the two endings were reversed.
 
I do have to wonder if the PS5 sales wouldve increased had Helldivers been a PS5 exclusive. Losing 56% of the sales are surely some lost sales. Maybe not the full 56% but for a game that went viral like this, i assume at least 5% of the people interested in the game wouldve purchased a console for it.
Maybe...but considering that half or more than half of Helldivers 2 came from PC users, i'm sure Sony prefers how things turned out.
 
This has been a weird day for gaming news. On Sony's end I started the day reading about PSVR2 underperforming (again) and the pro specs targeting less than native 4k60. I end the day reading they are only down 2% in Europe (despite no Hogwarts this year) and that Helldivers 2 is doing crazy numbers. On MS end I started the day reading about a new devkit in Korea. I end the day reading they are down 47% in Europe. Based on how the day started for each, I'd forgive someone if they thought the two endings were reversed.
Except for this topic, everything else you heard is not official though.

PSVR2 news came from a man that has failed multiple times with PS reports.
Pro specs "targeting less than native 4k60" i a weird thing to post considering that depends on each game.
 

NickFire

Member
I do have to wonder if the PS5 sales wouldve increased had Helldivers been a PS5 exclusive. Losing 56% of the sales are surely some lost sales. Maybe not the full 56% but for a game that went viral like this, i assume at least 5% of the people interested in the game wouldve purchased a console for it.
Your guess is as good as mine. But my guess is that without PC the game would not have been the smash hit that it clearly is.
 
Holy fuck, Xbox is a zombie, and it could even get worse the next months, my man Phil did it lmao, i just hope Gamepass will stay for some more years.

Helldivers 2 PC sales being higher than PS5's on Playstation's mainland is pretty crazy too, so much stuff going on that we could never have expected 5-10 years ago.

FF7 Rebirth deserved more, but at least it did better than FF16, and i am sure the word of mouth will help the game, my GOTY most likely.
 
Now that i think about it...no wonder MS started porting their games.
Xbox main Gamepass driver has been Xbox consoles...if hardware doesn't move and with a lack of games right now...i can only imagine how those numbers are falling as we speak.

I actually also think a new console next year or 2026 will back fire on them tremendously and won't make a mark on the market but that's just me.
 
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