FIFA 21 was the best-selling boxed game in Europe in 2020

According to a new GfK report, FIFA 21 was the best-selling boxed game throughout the majority of European countries in 2020.

This report covers physical game sales in Belgium, Austria, Denmark, Czech Republic, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Netherlands, Russia, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK.

The data shows that FIFA 21 was the best-selling boxed game with retailers in at least 16 of the 19 countries that were surveyed. The UK, Spain, and Italy were just three countries where the game outsold all other titles at retail.

The exceptions include Russia, where The Last Of Us Part 2 has become the best-selling boxed game for the year. This is hardly surprising given the title’s popularity, though it is uncommon for a survival horror game to outsell a mainstream sports title.

In Finland, Minecraft was the best-selling boxed game. Again, this isn’t that surprising. Finally, in France Animal Crossing: New Horizons outsold all other titles at retail. Considering that the game was the best-selling title for a large portion of 2020’s weekly sales charts in both the UK and US, this is also unsurprising.

FIFA has owned the European market for a number of years. In 2017, 2018, and 2019 the franchise topped European sales charts as the best-selling entry.

However, Nintendo managed to hold onto both second and third place in terms of the best-selling games in the region. Animal Crossing: New Horizons was the second best-seller, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was the third best-seller.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe continues to sell better each year after the Switch’s launch. The game is bundled with Switch hardware, meaning almost every console sold comes with a copy of the game, further boosting sales.

Given just how popular Animal Crossing: New Horizons has been over the past year with the pandemic, it’s almost surprising that the game didn’t outsell FIFA 21.

Interestingly, both Minecraft and Grand Theft Auto 5, two games that have been out for years now, have managed to stick around among the best-sellers for the year. This is incredibly impressive and shows that consumers still value the titles even if most of their content can be consumed through YouTube or Twitch today.