Video game sales are down!
Game news Video game sales are down!
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Analysts predicted it, GSD confirms it for Europe: video games sold less in 2022 than in 2021. The decline is significant, the reasons are many, but as certain results show, there are still winners.
GSD methodology
The data released by GSD covers both physical and intangible sales. As defined on the official websitephysical sales data is based on results recorded in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, United Kingdom, Sweden and Switzerland.
Digital sales data comes from major online stores such as Steam, Xbox Live, PlayStation Network and Nintendo eShop. If most of the biggest publishers in the market are involved in the operation (Activision, Bandai, EA, Embracer, Microsoft, Sega, Sony, Square Enix, etc.), Nintendo is one of the few that are not. This means that the GSD data only counts physical sales of Nintendo games.
Summary
- 3 PlayStation 5 games in the top 10
- Consoles to comfort yourself?
3 PlayStation 5 games in the top 10
Launched by ISFE in 2017, Games Sales Data (GSD) provides sales figures for games released in EMEA regions. It is through the latter Games Industrywhich we know a little more about video game sales decline – estimated at 7.1% – originally endorsed by the industry’s most prestigious analyst firms.
First, there are predictable outcomes such as the UK being a bigger market than Germany or France.. Compared to last year, sales in Germany decreased by 13%, in Great Britain by 6% and in France by 3%. Spain and Italy saw game sales increase slightly (between 1% and 2%) compared to 2021. It is not surprising that the best sales are based on licenses that received the title FIFA 23, Call of Duty or Elden Ring, From Software. Game of the Year award at The Game Awards 2022.
According to figures that combine physical and intangible sales (excluding Nintendo’s work), EMEA’s 10 best-selling games of 2022 welcome 3 PlayStation exclusives With God of War: Ragnarok (#7), Horizon: Forbidden West (#9) and Gran Turismo 7 (#10). Pokémon: Arceus reaches the sixth position, which Pokémon Scarlet / Purple could have if the sales of the two applications were combined. There are no Xbox exclusives in the top 20 this year. 64% of sales (82.5 million) were made electronically, which is generally stable compared to last year’s reports. In case you’re wondering, yes, Grand Theft Auto V ranks well in the top 5 sales of 2022.
| Classification (physical + dematerialized) | Games |
| 1 | FIFA 23 |
| 2 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 |
| 3 | Elden Ring |
| 4 | Grand Theft Auto 5 |
| 5 | FIFA 22 |
| 6 | Pokémon Legends: Arceus (physical sales only) |
| 7 | God of War Ragnarok |
| 8 | LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga |
| 9 | Horizon: Forbidden West |
| 10 | Gran Turismo 7 |
Consoles to comfort yourself?
In 2022, 159 million console and PC games were sold in the EMEA markets, a decrease of 7.1% compared to the previous year. This overall decline can be explained by delayed major releases, an unstable economic/geopolitical climate, and of course, sub-optimal console availability. So, if we go by the numbers reported by GamesIndustry (which excludes Germany and the UK), 5.3 million consoles were sold in 2022, which is a 25% decrease compared to 2021. The most notable drop is PlayStation 5 (-35%), followed by Nintendo Switch (-15%). Nevertheless, Nintendo’s hybrid remains the best-selling machine of 2022, thus beating Sony’s hardware in second place. In third place we find the Xbox Series X|S. It should be noted that Microsoft consoles are the only consoles that recorded sales growth (+ 4.4%). That should please the American giant.
Despite sluggish results overall, GamesIndustry noted that sales of new games were up 16% compared to new games released in 2021. Big annual franchises are hitting harder than last year with FIFA 23 seeing sales increase 3% over FIFA 22 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 beating Call of Duty: Vanguard’s numbers with an impressive 73. % increase in sales. Pokémon Scarlet/Purple also performs better (+13%) compared to the Diamond and Pearl remakes. What about estimates for 2023? At the moment, analysts want to be reassured. Although the impact of inflation may force some consumers to choose, the upcoming year has several opportunities to hope for good results, such as the release of long-awaited games (Hogwarts Legacy: The Legacy of Hogwarts, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Hogwarts). Kingdom, Starfield, Diablo IV, Final Fantasy XVI, etc.) and announced the end of the PlayStation 5 shortage.
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