PS5 sales jump 200% across Europe last month | European Monthly Charts

12.1 million games were sold across Europe last month, a drop of 19% over the same period the year before.

This is based on GSD market data, which tracks all physical game sales across major European countries, plus digital game sales from most major AAA publisher. Full details at the bottom of the article.

The biggest reason for the decline is due to Pokémon Legends: Arceus, which was a big hit last January. There was no comparable game in 2023.

It was a good month for FIFA, Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2, which all did better in January this year than the year before. However, there was a sharp drop in sales for Mario Kart 8: Deluxe (down 37% on last year).

There were a couple of new games in the charts. EA's Dead Space remake comes in at No.6. The game arrives just over a month after The Callisto Protocol, which is a game very similar to Dead Space, and made by some of the game's original developers. The Callisto Protocol actually did better in its first two weeks than Dead Space, and that's even without digital (The Callisto Protocol publisher Krafton is not part of the digital panel).

Other new releases in the charts include a number of Japanese-centric games, which is quite common for this time of year. PS5 game Forspoken is at No.11, just ahead of Nintendo's Fire Emblem Engage (no digital data for Fire Emblem). Meanwhile, Bandai Namco's One Piece Odyssey comes in at No.16.

PS5 stock improves significantly across Europe

In terms of console sales, 493,000 games machines were sold across tracked European markets in January (data doesn't include UK or Germany. For UK data, click here).

It's a rise of 15.5% over last January, and is entirely due to a massive 202% rise in PS5 sales across the continent. The PS5 was in short supply last January, but things have improved significantly.

PS5 was the No.1 console of the month, just ahead of Nintendo Switch (sales down 11% over January 2022) and then Xbox Series X and S (sales down 32%).

In terms of accessories, 1.76 million add-on products were sold across tracked markets, a drop of 2.1% over the month before. The PS5 DualSense controller was the best-selling accessory. 1.37 million points and subscription cards were sold across Europe last month, a drop of 4% over January 2022.

European GSD January 2023 Top 20 (Digital + Physical)

* Digital data unavailable

GSD digital data includes games from participating companies sold via Steam, Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, Nintendo Eshop. Major participating companies are Activision Blizzard, Bandai Namco, Capcom, Codemasters, Electronic Arts, Embracer Group (including Gearbox, Koch Media, Sabre Interactive), Focus Entertainment, Konami, Marvellous 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 notable absentees, alongside smaller studios.

Digital data includes games sold in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, and United Kingdom.

Physical data includes all games, but only those sold in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom.

Console hardware sales cover Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Accessories sales cover the same markets, but doesn't include Switzerland.