Europe enjoyed strong video game sales in February 2024 – WholesGame

February saw a successful month for video game sales throughout Europe, although the same cannot be said for console sales. Across the entire tracked region, a combined total of 16.74 million video games were purchased this past month.

Compared with sales figures from last February, this is an increase of more than 20%. It should be mentioned though that this past February was technically a five-week sales month. When compared with the same five-week period from 2023, sales are more or less the same. Nevertheless, this is a credible achievement, as February 2023 marked the initial release of one of the best-selling games of the year, Hogwarts Legacy.

This past February also saw a new player enter the No.1 spot in the charts and that was Sony’s, Helldivers 2. The multiplayer shooter launched on February 8 for both PS5 and PC platforms, and has quickly become the most talked about game in the industry at the moment.

56% of overall sales have come from PC so far, but the squad-based shooter continues to sell well on both platforms. In its second week of release, the game sold 70% more copies than it did at launch, and this continued with another 3% increase in its third week.

Sales have finally started to slow now, with a decrease of around 28% being reported heading into its fifth week on the market. This is still quite the achievement though, as sales on most games can drop by as much as 80% after only one week of launch.

Football remains one of Europe’s most popular preoccupations as, even after five months of its release, EA Sports FC 24 is still going strong and took the No.2 spot in the charts for the month of February. A few other mainstays that kept their place in the top ten this past month were; GTA V at No. 4, Call of Duty: MW3 at No.5, and Red Dead Redemption 2 at No.6.

Hogwarts Legacy also managed to maintain its place in the top ten, ending the month in the No.7 position. The highest placing other new release for February was Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth at No.3, while Skull and Bones – which was also released in February – continues to disappoint and had to settle for the No.9 spot.

Even with its massive hype, positive reviews, and strong reception from fans, sales of the second installment in the Final Fantasy VII remake trilogy are down by 23% from its opening week and overall the new game has failed to outsell its predecessor. However, there are perhaps several reasons for this, such as part one coming out during the height of the COVID-19 lockdowns and also being available for the PS4.

The two remaining games to make up the top ten were; It Takes Two at No.8 and Need for Speed: Heat at No.4. Both titles have been out for a number of years now but enjoyed a substantial boost in sales thanks to price drops during the spring sales.

Some notable mentions outside the top ten are; Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League at No.12 which continues to perform lower than expectations, and the debuts of Mario vs Donkey Kong and Pacific Drive, coming in at No.15 and No.18 respectively. Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth also released a double pack including the first game, but this only made it to No.39 in the charts.

A final note should be made for another of February’s biggest successes, Palworld. Sales of the monster-taming title should have taken sales figures for February 2024 well over that of the previous year, however, Palworld’s developer isn’t listed with the GSD, so therefore their sales haven’t been tracked.

In regards to console sales, not every European region is tracked by the Games Sales Data (GSD) either, but the ones that do, show an ongoing drop in sales month-over-month. Be that as it may, just under 475,000 consoles were still sold throughout the continent during the month of February.

When compared with figures from February 2023, this is an increase of 11% but it must be mentioned again that this February technically consisted of an extra week of sales. If you compare it week-for-week, overall sales on consoles have in fact decreased by 14%.

All three of the major console platforms reported a reduction in sales this past month. The PlayStation 5 remains the current console champion with just a 2% drop in sales, while sales of the Nintendo Switch showed a decrease of 17% and the Xbox X/S is really starting to fall behind with sales on the console being down an estimated 47% in February.

Lastly, that brings us to gaming accessories. This avenue continues to be a strong seller with over 1.6 million accessories and add-ons being sold throughout Europe. The PS5 DualSense controller keeps up its previous success by again being the No.1 accessory, while Xbox Wireless controllers follow just behind as the No.2 highest-selling item.

That wraps up the European chart news for February. With 2024 forecast to be a slow year for gaming, it will be interesting to see how the charts unfold in the coming months. Stay with us for all the chart and other gaming news as soon as it’s announced.