According to the latest data from GSD, 17.6 million PC and console games were sold in Europe last month.
It's a big month, with game sales up over 20% compared to September 2023.
Unsurprisingly, EA Sports FC 25 took the top spot. It's a slightly softer launch this year than last year, with the game's first two weeks of sales down 2% from last year's release.
However, if we look at the higher-priced premium version (which players had to buy if they wanted access during the first week), sales of that version were almost 10% higher than the year before. So overall, it looks like a strong performance from EA's latest soccer title.
In second place is Ubisoft's The Crew 2. The 2018 game was treated to an aggressive promotion where the publisher actually gave the game away for free (users simply had to pay a €1 platform fee).
That means the big surprise hit of the month had to settle for third place. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 was a real hit and, as in the UK, is currently the third best-selling new game of 2024 after just a few weeks on sale, ahead of the likes of Dragon's Dogma 2, The Last of. Us Part 2: Remastered and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.
It is comfortably the fastest selling Warhammer game to date. In fact, after four weeks, it's on the verge of becoming the best-selling Warhammer game in Europe of all time, eclipsing the sales of Total War: Warhammer titles.
Also new for September is Astro Bot from PlayStation. It's a decent start for a 3D platformer. Compared to recent AAA 3D efforts, Astro's four-week sales are 34% higher than 2022's Sonic Frontiers and 52% higher than 2020's Crash Bandicoot 4: It's Time.
Sales are also 7.5% higher than what platform shooter Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart did for the same period in 2021, which was also a PS5 exclusive aimed at a smaller, wider audience.
New this week at number 6 is NBA 2K25. It's off to a slightly better start for the NBA this year, with opening sales up 1% over 2K24.
Another new game in the ranking is The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom at No.8. At the time this chart was compiled, the game had been on sale for a week, and its position is based on physical sales only, as Nintendo does not share its own digital data with the graphics company.
In terms of physical sales, Echoes of Wisdom's sales are 15% lower than the 2019 remake of Link's Awakening (which uses the same art style as Echoes of Wisdom). Without digital, of course, it's hard to know exactly how much things have sped up since 2019 in comparison.
Finally rounding out the Top Ten is the return of the Test Drive series, with the Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown in 10th place.
Elsewhere, Microsoft's Age of Mythology Retold is in 12th place. And sticking with PC releases, God of War Regnarok returns to No. 15 and Final Fantasy XVI is back to No. 27 after both games arrived on PC last month.
Harry Potter Quidditch Champions had a rather slow start, debuting at No. 28. The game was available as part of the PlayStation Plus subscription service, and the Nintendo Switch version won't be released until November.
Finally, the Dead Rising remaster comes in at #48, while the new version of Disney's Epic Mickey lands at #83.
In terms of hardware, 335,000 game consoles were sold in the markets covered, down 18% from September last year.
The PS5 remains comfortably number one in all markets, even though sales are down 17% from this time last year. The Nintendo Switch is in second place and actually saw a 1.5% increase in sales over the previous year, potentially helped by the new Zelda Switch Lite console.
Xbox Series S and X remain in third place with sales down 58% compared to this time last year. A major new Xbox title was released in Starfield in September 2023, which will partially explain the large year-over-year drop.
In the accessories area, almost 1.1 million items were sold in the monitored markets, which is a decrease of 2.4% compared to September last year. The PS5 DualSense remains the leading controller, potentially bolstered by a new special edition Astro Bot variant last month.
Top 10 European GSD September 2024 (Digital + Physical)
| Position | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 | EA Sports FC 25 (EA) |
| 2 | The Crew 2 (Ubisoft) |
| 3 | Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 (Pullup Entertainment) |
| 4 | Astro Bot (Sony) |
| 5 | Hogwarts Legacy (Warner Bros) |
| 6 | NBA 2K25 (2K games) |
| 7 | Grand Theft Auto 5 (Rockstar) |
| 8 | The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom (Nintendo)* |
| 9 | The Crew Motorfest (Ubisoft) |
| 10 | Unlimited Solar Crown (Big Ben) test drive |
GSD digital data includes games from participating companies sold through Steam, Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, Nintendo Eshop. Major participating companies include Activision Blizzard, Bandai Namco, Capcom, Codemasters, Electronic Arts, Embracer Group (including Gearbox, Koch Media, Saber Interactive), Focus Entertainment, Konami, Marvelous Games, Microids, Microsoft (including Bethesda), Milestone, Nacon , Paradox Interactive, Quantic Dream, Sega, Sony, Square Enix, Take-Two, Tencent, Ubisoft and Warner Bros. Nintendo and 505 Games are notable absences alongside smaller studios.
Digital data includes games sold in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania , Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.
Physical data includes all games, but only those sold in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
Console hardware sales cover Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Accessory sales cover the same markets, but do not include Switzerland.