European Monthly Charts – April 2024

April was a major step back for the games industry in Europe, with overall sales falling well short of last year’s mark by 6.2%. In total, 10.5 million games were sold with the downward trend exemplified by the weak slate of new release titles.

One game, the Sony PlayStation exclusive Stellar Blade, placed in the top ten, and even then, it was at No. 9. Last year April saw the release of two highly anticipated sequels, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and Dead Island 2. With no major release for an entire month, a nearly 10-year-old title claimed the top spot.

As with other territories, Fallout 4 was the top seller for the month thanks to renewed interest from the television series on Amazon. Over half of the game’s sales were on PC, but on every platform it experienced a drastic discount. Fallout 76 at No. 7 and Fallout: New Vegas at No. 10 joined the latest mainline entry at the top of the chart.

EA Sports FC 24 barely edged out another PlayStation exclusive, Helldivers 2, for the second spot. Grand Theft Auto 5, Red Dead Redemption 2, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, and Hogwarts Legacy rounded out the top ten.

Soft sales weren’t limited to only games, as console sales fell heavily by 47% year-to-year. Every console was down significantly, as last year, the Nintendo Switch had a new SKU release and the impending arrival of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. In addition, both PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series consoles lacked major new releases for the month, diminishing interest, even if only briefly.

With hardware sales down, accessory sales also slumped, receding by 17% from 2023. Yet, the PlayStation 5 Dual Sense controller gained .08% over last month to regain the top spot on the accessory chart.