By Sagar V. Mankar 
The European gaming market showed resilience in 2024, with total PC and console game sales reaching 188.1 million units, marking a modest 1% increase from the previous year, according to the GSD report, as noted by VGC.
Digital downloads have emerged as the preferred way to purchase games, with 131.6 million units sold through digital stores – a robust 15% increase from 2023. In contrast, physical retail sales continued their decline, dropping 22% to 56.5 million units.
Top-Selling Games of 2024
EA Sports FC 25 emerged as the best-selling game in the European market. However, its sales were 5% lower than those of its predecessor, EA Sports FC 24, during the same period.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 claimed second place, outperforming its previous installment, 2023’s Modern Warfare 3, by 9% despite being available on Xbox Game Pass – a particularly impressive achievement since Game Pass downloads aren’t included in these figures.
Here are the Top 20 Video Games in Europe in 2024
- EA Sports FC 25 (EA)
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (Activision Blizzard)
- EA Sports FC 24 (EA)
- Grand Theft Auto 5 (Rockstar Games)
- Hogwarts Legacy (Warner Bros)
- Helldivers 2 (Sony)
- Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
- The Crew 2 (Ubisoft)
- It Takes Two (EA)
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Activision Blizzard)
- Elden Ring (Bandai Namco)
- Mario Kart 8: Deluxe (Nintendo)*
- Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero (Bandai Namco)
- Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege (Ubisoft)
- Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 (Focus)
- Need for Speed: Heat (EA)
- Super Mario Bros Wonder (Nintendo)*
- Super Mario Party Jamboree (Nintendo)*
- Fallout 4 (Bethesda)
- Metro Exodus (Plaion)
2024 saw fewer successful new releases, with only six new titles breaking into the top 20, compared to ten in 2023. Overall, new releases accounted for just 27% of total sales, down from 34% in 2023, representing a 21% decline in new release sales.
Older games witnessed notable success in 2024. Ubisoft’s The Crew 2 soared to eighth place, thanks to an aggressive €1 promotion. Elden Ring experienced a 46% sales boost, driven by its Shadow of the Erdtree expansion. The release of the Fallout TV series helped Fallout 4 achieve a remarkable 183% sales increase, securing the 19th spot.
Console Market Challenges
The hardware sector faced significant headwinds in 2024:
- Overall console sales declined 21% year-over-year
- PlayStation 5 led the market despite a 20% sales drop
- Nintendo Switch sales fell 15% in its eighth year
- Xbox Series X/S experienced the steepest decline at 48%
The decline can be attributed to the lack of major game releases and the fact that most consoles are in their final phase on the market.
The GSD report covers digital sales data from 31 European countries and includes major publishers like Activision Blizzard, EA, Microsoft, Sony, and Ubisoft, while Physical sales data covers 15 European markets, and hardware data represents 10 countries. Notably, Nintendo’s digital sales data is not included in these figures.
For more details, refer to the official GSD report.