Sales of video games plunged in July in European markets, due to the shortage of console stocks and the lack of major releases (except at the end of the month).
Sales of physical and digital games fell 38% year-on-year to 8.62 million units sold. It should be noted that July 2022 only has four weeks, while July 2021 had five, but it still remains a poor month for game sales. This is mainly due to the lack of new releases. This year, the best-selling game in July was F1 22, which was actually released in June. The top-ranked new release is Xenoblade Chronicles 3, which ranked 7th (released end of month). Last year, the top-selling games were F1 2021 (which launched in July) and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD on Nintendo Switch.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 may not have been as big as Zelda, but it did well for the series, with launch sales up 27% over 2020’s Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition. It’s worth noting that Nintendo doesn’t share its download numbers, which means the game might have ranked higher had they been available. In terms of pure physical sales, the game was the third best-selling game of the month, behind Nintendo Switch Sports (in second place) and F1 22 (in first place).
F1 22 was the top-selling game in Germany, Italy and France, while Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga was the top-selling game in the UK.
| Position | Title | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | F1 22 (EA) | |
| 2 | Grand Theft Auto 5 (Rockstar) | |
| 3 | FIFA 22 (EA) | |
| 4 | LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (Warner Bros) | |
| 5 | Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar) | |
| 6 | Nintendo Switch Sports (Nintendo)* | |
| 7 | Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (Nintendo)* | |
| 8 | Mario Strikers: Battle League Football* (Nintendo) | |
| 9 | Mario Kart 8: Deluxe (Nintendo)* | |
| 10 | NBA 2K22 (2K Games) | |
| 11 | The Crew 2 (Ubisoft) | |
| 12 | Elden Ring (Bandai Namco) | |
| 13 | Minecraft Switch Edition (Microsoft) | |
| 14 | Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle (Ubisoft) | |
| 15 | The Quarry (2K Games) | |
| 16 | Far Cry 6 (Ubisoft) | |
| 17 | Pokémon Legends: Arceus (Nintendo)* | |
| 18 | Star Wars Jedi: The Fallen Order (EA) | |
| 19 | Grand Touring 7 (Sony) | |
| 20 | Kirby and the Forgotten Land (Nintendo)* |
297,420 games consoles were sold in the European markets tracked during the month of July, a decrease of 48% compared to July last year. Console data does not include Germany or UK sales. The Nintendo Switch was once again the most popular console by a wide margin, with continued stock shortages for the PS5 and Xbox Series X and S. Year-to-date, console sales in these European markets are down more than 26%. This is almost entirely due to stock shortages for the PS5, with Xbox Series S and X and Nintendo Switch sales up slightly from the previous year.
* Numerical data not available
GSD Digital Data includes participating companies’ games sold via Steam, Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, Nintendo Eshop. The main participating companies are Activision Blizzard, Bandai Namco, Capcom, Codemasters, Electronic Arts, Embracer Group (including Gearbox, Koch Media, Saber Interactive), Focus Entertainment, Konami, Marvelous 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 big absentees, along with smaller studios.
Digital data includes games sold in the following countries: Germany, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia, Denmark, Spain, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Czech Republic, Romania, United Kingdom, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine.
Physical data includes all games, but only those sold in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, in Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
Console hardware sales cover Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Accessories sales cover the same markets, but do not include Switzerland.