13.6 million PC and console games were sold in March across Europe, a slight drop of 4{fa54600cdce496f94cc1399742656d2709d9747721dfc890536efdd06456dfb9} compared with the same period in 2022.
That means for the first quarter of the year, 39 million games have been sold, which is a drop of 11{fa54600cdce496f94cc1399742656d2709d9747721dfc890536efdd06456dfb9} over last year.
This is according to the latest GSD data, which tracks physical games across major European markets, plus digital downloads from most major games publishers (full list at the bottom of the story).
Hogwarts Legacy is comfortably the best-selling game of the quarter and it is the fastest selling game in Europe (outside of the FIFA franchise) since the GSD charts started in 2017.
Despite this, last year featured a larger number of big releases, including Elden Ring, Pokemon Legends: Arceus, Horizon: Forbidden West and Gran Turismo 7.
Hogwarts may be the biggest game of the quarter, but it was Resident Evil 4 that claimed No.1 in March. Capcom’s horror remake grabbed the top spot after just two weeks on sale.
Resident Evil 4’s first two week sales across Europe was 19{fa54600cdce496f94cc1399742656d2709d9747721dfc890536efdd06456dfb9} lower than 2021’s Resident Evil Village and 11{fa54600cdce496f94cc1399742656d2709d9747721dfc890536efdd06456dfb9} lower than 2019’s Resident Evil 2 remake. But it’s up 57{fa54600cdce496f94cc1399742656d2709d9747721dfc890536efdd06456dfb9} compared with the remake of Resident Evil 3 in 2020.
Looking at a more recent horror game, Resident Evil 4’s first two weeks are up 149{fa54600cdce496f94cc1399742656d2709d9747721dfc890536efdd06456dfb9} compared with the remake of Dead Space, which was released in January.
Also new in March was WWE 2K23, which makes No.8. The game’s opening sales (first three weeks) are down 28{fa54600cdce496f94cc1399742656d2709d9747721dfc890536efdd06456dfb9} compared with WWE 2K22. Last year’s game followed a lengthy gap for the series, which may have benefitted its launch due to additional pent-up demand.
There is no Nintendo game in the Top Ten for March. The highest charting title was actually Metroid Prime Remastered at No.11. It’s impossible to know how this game truly performed, as it was initially released digitally in February. Nintendo is the main company that doesn’t share digital data with the charts company.
PS5 SALES CONTINUE TO SURGE
Console hardware sales were up 67{fa54600cdce496f94cc1399742656d2709d9747721dfc890536efdd06456dfb9} to 570,000 units sold across selected European countries during March, driven by huge sales for PS5.
(The countries include France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland and Portugal. For the full list, see below. For UK console data, click here)
Across those markets, PS5 sales are up by five times in March 2023 compared with the year before. In 2022 there had been severe stock shortages for Sony’s console.
The surge in PlayStation sales offset declines elsewhere, Switch sales are down 19{fa54600cdce496f94cc1399742656d2709d9747721dfc890536efdd06456dfb9} across the markets compared with March 2022, while Xbox Series S and X sales are down 13{fa54600cdce496f94cc1399742656d2709d9747721dfc890536efdd06456dfb9}.
For the first quarter of the year, 1.5m consoles have been sold across the selected countries, which is a rise of 41{fa54600cdce496f94cc1399742656d2709d9747721dfc890536efdd06456dfb9} over the first quarter of last year. PS5 leads the market with a 369{fa54600cdce496f94cc1399742656d2709d9747721dfc890536efdd06456dfb9} year-on-year sales rise, followed by Switch (down 18{fa54600cdce496f94cc1399742656d2709d9747721dfc890536efdd06456dfb9}) and then Xbox Series S and X (down 10{fa54600cdce496f94cc1399742656d2709d9747721dfc890536efdd06456dfb9}).
In terms of accessories, 1.5 million add-on products were sold across the markets, a rise of 13{fa54600cdce496f94cc1399742656d2709d9747721dfc890536efdd06456dfb9} over the year before. This was again because of improved console hardware sales boosting sales of accessories. The best-selling product was the PS5 DualSense Controller.
For the first quarter of the year, 4.7 million accessories have been sold, which is a rise of over 5{fa54600cdce496f94cc1399742656d2709d9747721dfc890536efdd06456dfb9} year-on-year.
Finally, in terms of points cards and wallet, 1.9m of these were sold in March 2023, a drop of 1.9{fa54600cdce496f94cc1399742656d2709d9747721dfc890536efdd06456dfb9} over the same period in 2022.
European GSD March 2023 Top 10 (Digital + Physical)
| Position | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 | Resident Evil 4 (Capcom) |
| 2 | Hogwarts Legacy (Warner Bros) |
| 3 | FIFA 23 (EA) |
| 4 | Grand Theft Auto 5 (Rockstar) |
| 5 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Activision Blizzard) |
| 6 | Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar) |
| 7 | WWE 2K23 (2K Games) |
| 8 | F1 22 (Capcom) |
| 9 | NBA 2K23 (2K Games) |
| 10 | Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege (Ubisoft) |
* Digital data unavailable
GSD digital data includes games from participating companies sold via Steam, Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, Nintendo Eshop. Major participating companies are Activision Blizzard, Bandai Namco, Capcom, Codemasters, Electronic Arts, Embracer Group (including Gearbox, Koch Media, Sabre Interactive), Focus Entertainment, Konami, Marvellous Games, Microids, Microsoft (including Bethesda), Milestone, Nacon, Paradox Interactive, Quantic Dream, Sega, Sony, Square Enix, Take-Two, Ubisoft and Warner Bros. Nintendo and 505 Games are the notable absentees, 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 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 United Kingdom.
Console hardware sales cover Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Accessories sales cover the same markets, but doesn’t include Switzerland.