European GSD March 2024: EA FC 24 #1, Helldivers 2 #2, Dragon’s Dogma 2 #3

Gamernyc78

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European GSD March 2024 Top 10 (Digital + Physical)​

PositionTitle
1EA Sports FC 24 (EA)
2Helldivers 2 (Sony)
3Dragon's Dogma 2 (Capcom)
4Command & Conquer: Generals (EA)
5Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege (Ubisoft)
6Grand Theft Auto 5 (Rockstar)
7Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 (EA)
8Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun (EA)
9Command & Conquer: Renegade (EA)
10Command & Conquer: Red Alert (EA)

Command & Conquer games flooded the European charts in March after EA put out a bundle of games on Steam.

Five titles in the iconic strategy series make the Top Ten, led by Command & Conquer Generals at No.4. The result of this means that new releases such as WWE 2K24 (No.12), Rise Of The Ronin (No.18) and Princess Peach Showtime (No.23), all chart lower than expected. There are 11 Command & Conquer titles in the Top 20.

In total, 15.9 million console and PC games were sold across European markets, according to GSD (which tracks digital and physical console and PC game sales). That's a rise of 35% over the same four-week period last year. For the full quarter, game sales are up more than 9% across Europe, which is better than many analysts had predicted. This is despite the absence of Palworld data from the charts (Palworld was a particularly big hit in January).
For March, Helldivers 2's stay at the top of the European charts is over as the game drops to No.2, but it's still delivering impressive numbers. EA Sports FC24 reclaimed its position at No.1.

There was one new game that managed to overcome the deluge of Command & Conquer titles and that was Capcom's Dragon's Dogma 2, which was a strong hit across Europe. It's one of two big Japanese RPGs to launch this year so far, following Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth at the end of February. Comparing the first two weeks on sale for both games, Final Fantasy just about beat Dragon's Dogma. Note: Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth was only released on PS5, whereas Dragon's Dogma 2 is on PS5, PC and Xbox.
In terms of hardware, for the same four-week period console sales are down 27% to 317,090 units across tracked markets (UK and Germany data is missing.

PS5 saw the biggest drop of nearly 31% year-on-year for March, but remains comfortably the best-selling console across Europe. This is partially due to the fact that PS5 became freely available this time last year, so there was a surge in console sales in early 2023.
In terms of accessories, 1.2 million of these products were sold across tracked European markets, a drop of 0.3% over the year before. The DualSense controller for PS5 leads the way comfortably, with the Xbox Series Wireless controller in second place.
 
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Sunrise Ninja

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Swear to God who is still buying GTA 5 at this point

Y GIF
 
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Evilms

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Why doesn't it show the % for the Switch and Xbox, since they've also dropped? Why talk only about the PS5?
 
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ethomaz

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FFXVI had 2 days in February chart and people said to me it was the reason it didn’t got #1 (it was #3).

Now it nowhere to see in TOP10 March.

The decline continue being showed in every chart 🤷‍♂️

Helldivers is the opposite… #1 and now #2.
Really doing above any expectation.
 

Bryank75

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Why doesn't it show the % for the Switch and Xbox, since they've also dropped? Why talk only about the PS5?

Chris Dring has been terrible lately, appearing quite biased and that may extend to all of GIBiz...

I didn't notice him being like this a year or two ago.

Scapegoating PS5. At least they put it in perspective with the huge supply in europe last year.
 
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Vertigo

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FFXVI had 2 days in February chart and people said to me it was the reason it didn’t got #1 (it was #3).

Now it nowhere to see in TOP10 March.

The decline continue being showed in every chart 🤷‍♂️

Helldivers is the opposite… #1 and now #2.
Really doing above any expectation.

Square is beyond overrated and consistently pops out flop after flop. No surprise sales keep dwindling
 
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Vertigo

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Square has been struggling for awhile. Forspoken, Foamstars, Babylon’s Fall, Star Ocean, Origins, etc… all with middling critical reception and poor sales. For the two main ff games they released, there were 10 flops leading up to them.

They arguably ruined Eidos with the Marvel deals. Before then the Eidos side was an excellent contribution as a publisher with the Tomb Raider games … and I personally loved Deus Ex too.

When it comes to FF. Things have changed. The hardcore fan base is mostly behind the MMO and deservingly so. 14 has kept the brand relevant as the console games trended downwards. Ff16 and Rebirth are a course correction and the most notable games they’ve released in awhile.

Square is punching upwards right now and have been pretty much been blown away by Capcom and From.

But stuff like Mario rpg and Rebirth is of no doubt quality and pedigree. They may narrow scope further IMO but Dawntrail will do big numbers.
 
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Yurinka

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Square is beyond overrated and consistently pops out flop after flop. No surprise sales keep dwindling
overrated how?
Square has been struggling for awhile. Forspoken, Foamstars, Babylon’s Fall, Star Ocean, Origins, etc… all with middling critical reception and poor sales. For the two main ff games they released, there were 10 flops leading up to them.

They arguably ruined Eidos with the Marvel deals. Before then the Eidos side was an excellent contribution as a publisher with the Tomb Raider games … and I personally loved Deus Ex too.

When it comes to FF. Things have changed. The hardcore fan base is mostly behind the MMO and deservingly so. 14 has kept the brand relevant as the console games trended downwards. Ff16 and Rebirth are a course correction and the most notable games they’ve released in awhile.

Square is punching upwards right now and have been pretty much been blown away by Capcom and From.

But stuff like Mario rpg and Rebirth is of no doubt quality and pedigree. They may narrow scope further IMO but Dawntrail will do big numbers.

Sure, as happened in the 90s and 00s, they may have had some failures like Foamstars, Babylon's Fall or Forspoken, and they have series like Star Ocean who always have been pretty niche and never had great sales, but their bug guns (FFXIV, FFXVI, FFVIIRemake/Rebirth...) and overall catalog performed great, more than compensating the low performers.

As a whole, outside the minor post covid "going back to normality" drop, Square has been improving in recent years their revenue and profits, performing better than ever and being one of the biggest publishers, specially among the Japanese ones.

Regarding quality, thats subjective (could be relatively measured gaming media reception via MC) but I think they always had big quality stuff mixed with mediocre stuff.

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Evilnemesis8

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As a whole, outside the minor post covid "going back to normality" drop, Square has been improving in recent years their revenue and profits, performing better than ever and being one of the biggest publishers, specially among the Japanese ones.

Regarding quality, thats subjective (could be relatively measured gaming media reception via MC) but I think they always had big quality stuff mixed with mediocre stuff.

FY 2023 will probably be fine with the last quarter having FF7R Part 2 revenue(and Formstars lul).
In general FF XVI and FF7 Part 2 being in the same fiscal year helped stabilize the numbers considering a pretty sizable dropoff in the mobile space(and the MMO being in a non-expansion year).

I am curious what is in store for FY2024.
I don't know what I expect for mobile(probably more decline) but I imagine that premium game sales will probably down significantly. Two FFs will be much greater than whatever Visions/DQ3R(surely it's coming out this FY)/Saga Emerald and some other game(s) SE might have coming out.

Big question mark in my mind at this current time is how Dawntrail will perform right out of the gate.
Endwalker launch was so huge because it was the culmination of almost a decade of lore/story at the same time as WoW was the weakest it ever was.