Nintendo Switch and FIFA 23 led European games industry sales in 2022
Console and PC software sales declined 7.1% compared to 2021
Nintendo Switch and FIFA 23 topped European games industry sales in 2022.
That’s according to new data from retail monitor GSD, which has been published on GamesIndustry.biz.
On the hardware front, 5.3 million consoles were sold in Europe last year, which was down 25% compared to 2021’s total.
Switch was the clear best-seller, despite registering a 15% decline over the year before. PS5 comfortably secured second place even though its sales down were 35%, while sales of the third-placed Xbox Series X/S were up 4.4% year-on-year.
GSD hardware data covers 10 countries in mainland Europe but doesn’t include the UK or Germany. However, according to recently released GfK sales data, Switch outsold PS5 and Xbox Series X/S in the UK last year too.
In terms of software, 159 million console and PC games were sold across 31 tracked European markets last year, a decline of 7.1% over 2021’s total.
The data covers all physical game sales in major European countries, and digital sales from most major triple-A publishers (Nintendo being the most notable exception).
82.5 million games were sold digitally and 76.6 million were sold through physical retailers. FIFA 23 led sales ahead of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Elden Ring, Grand Theft Auto 5 and FIFA 22.
Europe’s best-selling games of 2022
- FIFA 23 (EA)
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Activision Blizzard)
- Elden Ring (Bandai Namco)
- Grand Theft Auto 5 (Rockstar)
- FIFA 22 (EA)
- Pokémon Legends: Arceus (Nintendo)*
- God of War Ragnarok (Sony)
- Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (Warner Bros)
- Horizon: Forbidden West (Sony)
- Gran Turismo 7
- Mario Kart 8: Deluxe (Nintendo)*
- Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar)
- Nintendo Switch Sports (Nintendo)*
- Pokémon Violet (Nintendo)*
- F1 22 (EA)
- Pokémon Scarlet (Nintendo)*
- Minecraft: Switch Edition (Nintendo/Mojang)*
- Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (Ubisoft)*
- Kirby and the Forgotten Land (Nintendo)*
- Mario Party Superstars (Nintendo)*
* Digital data unavailable
Games that missed out on the top 20 included NBA 2K23 at No.23, Splatoon 3 at No.27, WWE 2K22 at No.32, Mario Strikers: Battle League Football at No.34, Sonic Frontiers at No.43, Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection at No.44, Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope at No.46 and Dying Light 2: Stay Human at No.48.
