European game sales strong in February thanks to Helldivers 2 | European Monthly Charts
16.74 million video games were sold across Europe during February, according to the latest GSD data.
This is technically a rise of 21.2% over the previous February, however, February 2024 was a five-week month, whereas it was a four-week month in 2023. If we compare this year's number to the same five-week period in 2023, sales are actually down very, very slightly by 0.1%.
It's still a strong result. Last February saw the release of Hogwarts Legacy, which was a major smash hit. To give you an idea of just how big Hogwarts' launch was, its sales after five weeks was greater than the entire Top Ten for February this year.
It's also worth noting that Palworld, which would have been a big performer in February, isn't included in this data as that developer isn't tracked by GSD. So it's not unreasonable to think that February 2024 was actually bigger than 2023.
GSD tracks all games sold via physical retail in most major European markets, and digital sales from most major AAA publishers in all European markets.
The big standout game for the month was Helldivers 2 from Sony. The game was released simultaneously on PC and PS5, and over 56% of its sales came on the PC platform.
It also just kept on selling. Sales for the game increased 70% in its second week, then over 3% in its third week. It has slowed down since, but only slightly, with a sales fall of 28% in week four. As a comparison, most games drop in sales after one week, with falls of between 60 – 80% being the norm.
To give you a sense of how that game has done, after four weeks its sales are tracking 5% behind what Sony's previous blockbuster, Spider-Man 2, managed to achieve. Of course, Spider-Man 2 had a higher price point and was only available on PS5.
EA Sports FC 24 continues to do well at No.4, while we have another new release at No.3 in the form of Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth. The game was also available in a double pack with the original Final Fantasy VII: Remake, which makes No.39 in the charts.
Despite a strong
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