Support NeoGAF

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

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

Position	Title
1	Diablo 4 (Activision Blizzard)
2	Final Fantasy 16 (Square Enix)
3	FIFA 23 (EA)
4	The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo)*
5	Grand Theft Auto 5 (Rockstar)
6	F1 23 (EA)
7	Hogwarts Legacy (Warner Bros)
8	Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar)
9	Street Fighter 6 (Capcom)
10	Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Activision Blizzard)

European video game sales in June jump 20% thanks to Diablo 4 | European Monthly Charts

15.5 million games were sold across Europe last month, according to the latest GSD data. This data covers digital games…

www.gamesindustry.biz

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

15.5 million games were sold across Europe last month, according to the latest GSD data.

This data covers digital games from most major AAA games publishers, and physical retail games from the big European countries. Full list below.

Five million games were sold via physical retail, with the remaining 10.5 million via digital download stores.

It's a 20% sales improvement over June last year, driven by a number of major new releases.

Diablo 4 was comfortably the best-selling game of the month and it's the second fastest-selling game of the year behind Hogwarts Legacy. Zelda is the third fastest-selling game, but that game is missing its digital download data (Nintendo doesn't share this information), so it's possible Diablo 4 is really No.3 in terms of the list of fastest selling games of the year.

Diablo 4 is the biggest video game launch in June since the GSD charts began in 2017.

Over 66% of Diablo 4 sales were on PC, with over 21% on PS5 and just under 9% on Xbox Series S and X. The remaining 4% was on PS4.

In second place is Square Enix's Final Fantasy 16. The game's launch is 24% down compared with the last major Final Fantasy game: 2020's Final Fantasy 7: Remake. Final Fantasy 16 is a slightly different take on the series, and the 2020 game was released near the start of the COVID-19 lockdowns (and when the console install base was higher), which may explain the drop.

The next biggest new release is F1 23 from EA. It's a disappointing launch for the official racing game, with sales down almost 47% compared with what F1 22 managed over the same period.

Just under 65% of F1 23's sales were on PS5, with just over 22.5% on Xbox Series S and X and 12.5% on PS5. PC accounted for just 0.3% of sales.

The next notable new game in the June charts is Street Fighter 6 at No.9. Over 51% of sales for Capcom's fighting game was on PS5, with 28% on PC, 12% on Xbox Series S and X and almost 9% on PS4.

Looking purely at those four new releases, 80% of sales came from digital download stores. Obviously, that does fluctuate quite a bit depending on the game, with Diablo 4 at one end of the spectrum and Final Fantasy 16 at the other. In fact, across Europe, Final Fantasy was bought primarily via physical retail stores.

In terms of purely physical retail sales, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom just about held Diablo 4 off from the No.1 position.

Over in hardware, just 500,700 games consoles were sold across tracked European markets last month, which is up 33% over last June.

This is due to a spike in sales of PlayStation 5 (up 116%), while Switch sales are down slightly (-2.3%) and Xbox Series S and X sales are basically flat (sales down 0.8%).

PS5 reclaims its spot as Europe's No.1 console, having had to settle for second place last month due to the success of Nintendo Switch and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

Over in accessories, Sony's DualSense controller is No.1, with sales up 6.6% over last year. Then it's the Xbox Wireless controller, which saw a huge jump in sales thanks to the launch of a special edition Starfield version.

Overall, 1.46 million accessories and toys-to-life products were sold, a rise of 5.4% over June 2022.

In terms of points cards, 1.3 million of these were sold last month (up 3.4% year-on-year), and it's still the PlayStation Store Top-Up cards at No.1.

 

[Woopah]

Lots of interesting facts this week! Including that FF16 had a less than 50% digital split across Europe.

All hardware is doing well too. PS up a lot due to FF and shortages last year, Switch only very slightly down in its 7th year, and Xbox not as down as much as it has been earlier in the year.

I'd expect a similar story next month too.

 

[kazuyamishima]

Taken from IB

Percentage growth/decline compared to last year:

	PS5	NSW	XBS
Jan	+202	-11	-32
Feb	+400	-28	+13
Mar	+400+	-19	-13
Q1	+369	-18	-10
Apr	+144	+38	+19
May	+81	+39	-16
June	+116	-2.3	-0.8

Estimates:
PS5: 240k
NSW: 160k

Software splits:

Diablo 4

• 66:25:9 , PC: PS:XB
  • PS:XB -> 70:30
  • UK : 57% on PC

SF6

• 60:28:12, PS: PC:XB
  • PS:XB -> 83:17
  • UK : 59:23:17 , PS: PC:XB

F1 23

• 77:22:1, PS:XB: PC
  • UK : 49:49:1

FF16

• -24% from FF7R EU
• -36% from FF7R UK

 

[SEGA_2012]

In second place is Square Enix's Final Fantasy 16. The game's launch is 24% down compared with the last major Final Fantasy game: 2020's Final Fantasy 7: Remake.

Final Floptansy 16. They need to go back to turn based combat ASAP.

 

[Gaelyon]

Taken from IB

Percentage growth/decline compared to last year:

	PS5	NSW	XBS
Jan	+202	-11	-32
Feb	+400	-28	+13
Mar	+400+	-19	-13
Q1	+369	-18	-10
Apr	+144	+38	+19
May	+81	+39	-16
June	+116	-2.3	-0.8

Estimates:
PS5: 240k
NSW: 160k

Software splits:

Diablo 4

• 66:25:9 , PC: PS:XB
  • PS:XB -> 70:30
  • UK : 57% on PC

SF6

• 60:28:12, PS: PC:XB
  • PS:XB -> 83:17
  • UK : 59:23:17 , PS: PC:XB

F1 23

• 77:22:1, PS:XB: PC
  • UK : 49:49:1

FF16

• -24% from FF7R EU
• -36% from FF7R UK

Sony monthly average is +244% PS5 sale increase for jan-June period compare to the same period in '22. Obviously the stock constraints in '22 were very damaging to the sales volume but now it's a landslide.
NSW monthly average is -1.3% so nearly flat thanks to Zelda big sales, but still strong for a 6 years old console
MS monthly average is -39.8%. Hopefully Starfield/ABK deal will do wonders, we're just closing the third year of this gen and even after the end of the stock shortage this is the worst decline I've seen.

 

[lh032]

Final Floptansy 16. They need to go back to turn based combat ASAP.

PS4 userbase is way larger than the current ps5? doesnt seem fair to compare the sales drop.

And turnbased is going to kill the game sales, unless its an AA game like octopath.

 

[Horseganador]

PS5 pulling hardware sales and large multis (along with PC-Steam), on Xbox software sales are a pittance.

 

[Ar¢tos]

GTA 6 will never come out if GTA 5 keeps selling like this.

 

[kazuyamishima]

Sony monthly average is +244% PS5 sale increase for jan-June period compare to the same period in '22. Obviously the stock constraints in '22 were very damaging to the sales volume but now it's a landslide.
NSW monthly average is -1.3% so nearly flat thanks to Zelda big sales, but still strong for a 6 years old console
MS monthly average is -39.8%. Hopefully Starfield/ABK deal will do wonders, we're just closing the third year of this gen and even after the end of the stock shortage this is the worst decline I've seen.

July will be bigger for the PS5 thanks to the promotions is having/had at most European countries, Switch will possibly continue its downhill trend and Funnily enough, Xbox Series didn’t had double digits decline due to the launch of the Diablo IV bundle.

 

[MrTired]

That software split for Diablo 4 is eye opening if not alarming. Software sales seem to be declining for the Xbox. Gamepass effect?

 

[MrA]

Taken from IB

Percentage growth/decline compared to last year:

	PS5	NSW	XBS
Jan	+202	-11	-32
Feb	+400	-28	+13
Mar	+400+	-19	-13
Q1	+369	-18	-10
Apr	+144	+38	+19
May	+81	+39	-16
June	+116	-2.3	-0.8

Estimates:
PS5: 240k
NSW: 160k

Software splits:

Diablo 4

• 66:25:9 , PC: PS:XB
  • PS:XB -> 70:30
  • UK : 57% on PC

SF6

• 60:28:12, PS: PC:XB
  • PS:XB -> 83:17
  • UK : 59:23:17 , PS: PC:XB

F1 23

• 77:22:1, PS:XB: PC
  • UK : 49:49:1

FF16

• -24% from FF7R EU
• -36% from FF7R UK

So ps5 probably > switch +xbox or close to it, but that's not really the switches problem,
Ms better have a kinect level card hiding starfield will probably get them September then thats it ps5s got the rest of the year sewn up except maybe just maybe the switch taking December
Then in 2024 will probably see the switch follow up leaving the Xbox with even less mind share

 

[Superayate]

Sony monthly average is +244% PS5 sale increase for jan-June period compare to the same period in '22. Obviously the stock constraints in '22 were very damaging to the sales volume but now it's a landslide.
NSW monthly average is -1.3% so nearly flat thanks to Zelda big sales, but still strong for a 6 years old console
MS monthly average is -39.8%. Hopefully Starfield/ABK deal will do wonders, we're just closing the third year of this gen and even after the end of the stock shortage this is the worst decline I've seen.

Your average calculation is totally weird regarding MS

 

[Raonak]

PS5 strong af

Nice to see FF16 carrying physical sales. Shows that big budget single player games are still consumed the traditional way. It's the best FF game in a while and so I hope it gives the series some momenteum.

 

[JaksGhost]

Final Floptansy 16. They need to go back to turn based combat ASAP.

FF7R opened up to an install base of over 110+ million PS4s compared to PS5's install base of just over 40+ million.

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

I wonder at Diablo 4 numbers if it launched in Steam....

 

[hlm666]

I wonder at Diablo 4 numbers if it launched in Steam....

Couldn't see it increasing sales a huge amount, blizzard fans have been used to using their launchers since like diablo 2 (battle.net). The problem Epic has is they had that controversy over data stealing early on with EGS then the exclusives pissed people off more when Epic originally made it sound like they would fight with cheaper prices because of the lower cut they would take.

 

[Gaelyon]

Your average calculation is totally weird regarding MS

Well you're right, actually i was distracted while doing calculations and all my results are false !
Here's the correct values :
Sony is at +285% on average
Nintendo is at -0.22% on average
MS is at -5.69% on average

Thanks for pointing it out.

 

[yazenov]

Taken from IB

Percentage growth/decline compared to last year:

	PS5	NSW	XBS
Jan	+202	-11	-32
Feb	+400	-28	+13
Mar	+400+	-19	-13
Q1	+369	-18	-10
Apr	+144	+38	+19
May	+81	+39	-16
June	+116	-2.3	-0.8

Estimates:
PS5: 240k
NSW: 160k

Software splits:

Diablo 4

• 66:25:9 , PC: PS:XB
  • PS:XB -> 70:30
  • UK : 57% on PC

SF6

• 60:28:12, PS: PC:XB
  • PS:XB -> 83:17
  • UK : 59:23:17 , PS: PC:XB

F1 23

• 77:22:1, PS:XB: PC
  • UK : 49:49:1

FF16

• -24% from FF7R EU
• -36% from FF7R UK

Xbox software sales are atrocious due to the lower install base and low demand for the console, and Gamepass, which seems to affect the purchasing habits of Xbox consumers. Double whammy.

An excellent comparison between the UK and Europe. Xbox software sales share is much lower when calculating the total software, as opposed to the UK only, which seems to inflate and give the illusion that it's more competitive (the UK being Xbox's strongest market, behind the US). than it really is given the overall picture. PC software share also increased as it is much stronger in Europe compared to the UK.

FF 16 sales are decent as well. It's hard to beat the huge hype and anticipation of FF7R which was released on a much larger userbase.

 

[Luminoth-4545]

Switch for FYQ1 (April 1 - June 30, 2023) last year globally shipped 3.43 million for the quarter.

UK - April : up 30% yoy May: up 28% yoy June: down 20% yoy
Europe - April: up 38% yoy May: 189k est. up 39% yoy June: 160k est. down 2% yoy
USA - April: No.1 in units May: No.1 in units and dollars June: N/A
JPN - April: 281k, down 18k or 6% yoy May: 345k, up 93k or 37% yoy June: 486k, up 175k or 56% yoy

Note: European sales do not track the UK and Germany.

The data we do have suggests the Switch should be over 4 million for the quarter, the only reason it wouldn't be is if Nintendo overshipped considerably in the previous quarter. Switch total sales are currently 125.62 million so it would need to ship 4.38 million in FYQ1 to hit 130 million.

 

[Luminoth-4545]

FF7R opened up to an install base of over 110+ million PS4s compared to PS5's install base of just over 40+ million.

FF just hasn't grown like other franchises. Mario Odyssey's first quarter was 9.07 million on an install base of 14.86 million, Smash Bros. Ultimate first quarter was 12.08 million on an install base of 32.27 million. FFXVI will be around 4 million in the same time frame on an install base in the low 40 millions, it's been left in the dust by the likes of Smash Bro's which it used to be comparable to. FF was also bigger than God of War in the PS2 and PS3 days but not now, God of War Ragnarok sold 11 million on 38.4 million PS5's.

 

[ByWatterson]

FF was also bigger than God of War in the PS2 and PS3 days but not now, God of War Ragnarok sold 11 million on 38.4 million PS5's.

 

[lughnasadh123]

Atta boy RDR2 for still trottin' on.

 

[JaksGhost]

FF just hasn't grown like other franchises. Mario Odyssey's first quarter was 9.07 million on an install base of 14.86 million, Smash Bros. Ultimate first quarter was 12.08 million on an install base of 32.27 million. FFXVI will be around 4 million in the same time frame on an install base in the low 40 millions, it's been left in the dust by the likes of Smash Bro's which it used to be comparable to. FF was also bigger than God of War in the PS2 and PS3 days but not now, God of War Ragnarok sold 11 million on 38.4 million PS5's.

When has Final Fantasy ever had the same attachment rate as a 1st Party Nintendo title especially of the caliber of Switch 1st Party titles? Also Ragnarok is a cross-gen title also available to over 118 million PS4 users.

 

[Woopah]

Switch for FYQ1 (April 1 - June 30, 2023) last year globally shipped 3.43 million.

UK - April : up 30% yoy May: up 28% yoy June: down 20% yoy
Europe - April: up 38% yoy May: 189k est. up 39% yoy June: 160k est. down 2% yoy
USA - April: No.1 in units May: No.1 in units and dollars June: N/A
JPN - April: 281k down 18k or 6% yoy May: 345k up 93k or 37% yoy June: 486k up 175k or 56% yoy

Note: European sales do not track the UK and Germany.

The data we do have suggests the Switch should be over 4 million for the quarter, the only reason it wouldn't be is if Nintendo overshipped considerably in the previous quarter. Switch total sales are currently 125.62 million so it would need to ship 4.38 million in FYQ1 to hit 130 million.

I expect this to be the final quarter Switch is up YoY, unless it gets a price cut.

 

[Fredrik]

And some people are concerned for Playstation when there is talk about acquisitions.
Have they ever been stronger? Maybe the PS2 days idk

 

[yazenov]

FF just hasn't grown like other franchises. Mario Odyssey's first quarter was 9.07 million on an install base of 14.86 million, Smash Bros. Ultimate first quarter was 12.08 million on an install base of 32.27 million. FFXVI will be around 4 million in the same time frame on an install base in the low 40 millions, it's been left in the dust by the likes of Smash Bro's which it used to be comparable to. FF was also bigger than God of War in the PS2 and PS3 days but not now, God of War Ragnarok sold 11 million on 38.4 million PS5's.

Most of the Nintendo franchises didnt do too well or showed growth on the Nintendo Wii U compared to the Wii or Switch.

Im not saying the PS5 is anything like the Wii U, but most of those Nintendo games growth exploded with the popularity of the console, and user base matters.

PS5 user base was hindered by supply shortages and the higher price tag of the console and the $70 price tag of the game may have affected the sales.

 

[tmlDan]

Final Floptansy 16. They need to go back to turn based combat ASAP.

if it was turn based it woulda sold worse

 

[Fredrik]

if it was turn based it woulda sold worse

It would’ve sold the same, people buy it because it’s a new mainline Final Fantasy that reviewed well, not because it’s now an action RPG. It’s also selling because it’s a PS exclusive. And because there hasn’t been any big games lately.

 

[tmlDan]

It would’ve sold the same, people buy it because it’s a new mainline Final Fantasy that reviewed well, not because it’s now an action RPG.

Nope, traditional turn based would have sold worse.

Hybrid? you're prob right but most people don't want turn based for FF anymore, even traditional fans.

 

[Fredrik]

Nope, traditional turn based would have sold worse.

Hybrid? you're prob right but most people don't want turn based for FF anymore, even traditional fans.

I added some info, I think the exclusivity create more hype as well no matter the combat and also that there hasn’t been any big games in a while. I’m not surprised that it’s #2 here.

And I definitely don’t think turn based battles would’ve turned people away. But I don’t think it would boost the sales either.
We’ll soon have Baldur’s Gate 3 to show the turn based popularity, as long as it reviews well I think it’ll sell a lot.

 

[tmlDan]

I added some info, I think the exclusivity create more hype as well no matter the combat and also that there hasn’t been any big games in a while. I’m not surprised that it’s #2 here.

And I definitely don’t think turn based battles would’ve turned people away. But I don’t think it would boost the sales either.
We’ll soon have Baldur’s Gate 3 to show the turn based popularity, as long as it reviews well I think it’ll sell a lot.

That's not really comparable at all, what about Octopath which only sold 1 million this far?

Idk of any game that sells millions upon millions and is turn based anymore unless its something from Nintendo.

 

[Sojiro]

Nope, traditional turn based would have sold worse.

Hybrid? you're prob right but most people don't want turn based for FF anymore, even traditional fans.

I have been a long time FF fan and would love for them to go back to turn based combat, it's part of the reason why I lean toward Dragon Quest more than FF these days. Most of the FF fans likely started the series on one of the turn based entries, why would they all the sudden not want to buy the next one if they went back to turn based combat?

 

[Hardensoul]

That's not really comparable at all, what about Octopath which only sold 1 million this far?

Idk of any game that sells millions upon millions and is turn based anymore unless its something from Nintendo.

Woah, how can you compare Octopath to FF. New IP with lower budget and don't even try to compare the marketing.

 

[tmlDan]

Woah, how can you compare Octopath to FF. New IP with lower budget and don't even try to compare the marketing.

what's big budget that's not a mobile game that is turn based?

Turn based games were a thing due to limitations of the platforms, hence why most mobile games are turn based. It's not an ideal way to play games....

 

[Danjin44]

Turn based games were a thing due to limitations of the platforms

You do know action combat existed back then like Tales of and Star Ocean?

I love FFXVI but the argument about turn based being “outdated” is extremely stupid.

 

[tmlDan]

You do know action combat existed back then like Tales of and Star Ocean?

I love FFXVI but the argument about turn based being “outdated” is extremely stupid.

Stop ignoring the rest of the post, give me an example of a top selling turn based game on consoles.

Give me one that has sold 5 million copies or more in the past 2 years. The only one I can think of is Persona 5.

 

[Danjin44]

Stop ignoring the rest of the post, give me an example of a top selling turn based game on consoles.

Give me one that has sold 5 million copies or more in the past 2 years. The only one I can think of is Persona 5.

Look turn based are niche they will never sell high numbers but that doesn't make them outdated.

 

[Fatal Chuck Yeager]

You do know action combat existed back then like Tales of and Star Ocean?

Which were C-budget games compared to the bigger production releases back then. To be fair FF7 is only high budget because of the FMV and the motion sprite animations for some battle stuff, and CG prendered graphics.

 

[Fatal Chuck Yeager]

Stop ignoring the rest of the post, give me an example of a top selling turn based game on consoles.

Give me one that has sold 5 million copies or more in the past 2 years. The only one I can think of is Persona 5.

There probably aren't 20 in the last 30 year in this case. PS1 FF games were an anomaly, and then after X-2 they switched out of turn based.

 

[Paulistano]

FF just hasn't grown like other franchises. Mario Odyssey's first quarter was 9.07 million on an install base of 14.86 million, Smash Bros. Ultimate first quarter was 12.08 million on an install base of 32.27 million. FFXVI will be around 4 million in the same time frame on an install base in the low 40 millions, it's been left in the dust by the likes of Smash Bro's which it used to be comparable to. FF was also bigger than God of War in the PS2 and PS3 days but not now, God of War Ragnarok sold 11 million on 38.4 million PS5's.

You forget that Nintendo bundles everything or you think Wii Sports sold well?

 

[Danjin44]

Which were C-budget games compared to the bigger production releases back then. To be fair FF7 is only high budget because of the FMV and the motion sprite animations for some battle stuff, and CG prendered graphics.

Those times were different, back then turn based used to be more popular but not this time around.

 

[Hardensoul]

what's big budget that's not a mobile game that is turn based?

Turn based games were a thing due to limitations of the platforms, hence why most mobile games are turn based. It's not an ideal way to play games....

WTF, even if I agree this is true in the early days but FF was and has been a turn base game for a long time.

Octopath is relatively successful to it's budget and niche audience, it was successful enough to do a sequel.

 

[kazuyamishima]

FF just hasn't grown like other franchises. Mario Odyssey's first quarter was 9.07 million on an install base of 14.86 million, Smash Bros. Ultimate first quarter was 12.08 million on an install base of 32.27 million. FFXVI will be around 4 million in the same time frame on an install base in the low 40 millions, it's been left in the dust by the likes of Smash Bro's which it used to be comparable to. FF was also bigger than God of War in the PS2 and PS3 days but not now, God of War Ragnarok sold 11 million on 38.4 million PS5's.

Installbase shouldn’t be significant for established franchises but demographics are, my 10 years old nephew and my 80 years old grandma could enjoy Nintendo games, but the same can’t be said about FF16, the game should’ve compared with the likes of Astral Chain and Bayonetta 3, two games that bombed and hard.

Final fantasy games have never been compared to Nintendo games, especially Smash Bros, don’t know why the comparison there.

And GOW:R should be close to 15 million by now.

 

[Fatal Chuck Yeager]

Those times were different, back then turn based used to be more popular but not this time around.

No it wasn't, it was just FF. PC mostly dropped it years beforehand, on PSX the only popular releases were FF for turn based games, on the PS2 this was also true. Maybe locally in Japan that was wider spread but otherwise? Pokemon excluded for completely different factors, FF was the only very popular turn based rpg period, not just Jrpg, during that time.

 

[Danjin44]

No it wasn't, it was just FF. PC mostly dropped it years beforehand, on PSX the only popular releases were FF for turn based games, on the PS2 this was also true. Maybe locally in Japan that was wider spread but otherwise? Pokemon excluded for completely different factors, FF was the only very popular turn based rpg period, not just Jrpg, during that time.

You are forgetting about Dragon Quest games, they were super popular in Japan and still is.

 

[Fatal Chuck Yeager]

You are forgetting about Dragon Quest games, they were super popular in Japan and still is.

I wasn't talking about Japan. My point was in general otherwise the post you got the quote from wouldn't make sense. You even quoted me saying "maybe locally in japan that was wider spread" in regards to releases lol.

 

[Coulomb_Barrier]

You do know action combat existed back then like Tales of and Star Ocean?

I love FFXVI but the argument about turn based being “outdated” is extremely stupid.

He's right though, if it was turn-based it wouldn't have sold an impressive 3 million copies in 4-5 days. It only sold well because it appealed more to action-genre fans as well as other factors (like medieval fantasy setting).

 

[Danjin44]

He's right though, if it was turn-based it wouldn't have sold an impressive 3 million copies in 4-5 days. It only sold well because it appealed more to action-genre fans as well as other factors (like medieval fantasy setting).

Turn based RPGs are niche its same as SRPGs and they never going sell high numbers but that still doesn't make them outdated. Turn base is just another combat system and they been around as long as FPS and Fighting games has.

 

[lastmessiah]

what's big budget that's not a mobile game that is turn based?

Turn based games were a thing due to limitations of the platforms, hence why most mobile games are turn based. It's not an ideal way to play games....

Mobile platform isn't limited to turn-based...an iPhone is far more powerful than a Switch for instance.