Switch Best-Selling Console in Europe in 2022, Xbox Series X|S Only Console With Sales Up - Sales
by William D'Angelo , posted on 12 January 2023 / 14,902 Views
FIFA took first place on the Europe charts for 2022, according to GSD data reported by GamesIndustry. Sales were up three percent compared to FIFA 22.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II was the second best-selling game of 2022 in Europe with sales up nearly 73 percent compared to Call of Duty: Vanguard.
If Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet sales were combined it would have been the sixth best-selling game with sales a big above Pokémon Legends: Arceus. Since they weren't Pokémon Violet came in 14th place with Pokémon Scarlet in 16th place.
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet sales were 13 percent higher than 2021's Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl and eight percent higher than 2019's Pokémon Sword / Shield.
There were a total of 169 million games sold in 2022 across Europe, which is a decrease of 7.1 percent year-on-year. 82.5 million games were digital sales, compared to 76.6 million physical retail game sales. New game sales (games released in 2022) did increase 16 percent compared to new game sales in 2021.
The UK was the biggest games market in Europe, however, game sales were down six percent year-on-year. Germany came in second place with sales down 13 percent, followed by France in third place with sales down three percent. Spain saw a one percent increase and Italy a two percent increase.
The UK was the biggest market FIFA, Call of Duty, LEGO Star Wars, and Elden Ring, while Germany and France were the best markets for Nintendo Switch titles like Pokémon Legends: Arceus, Mario Kart 8: Deluxe, Nintendo Switch Sports, and Pokémon Violet and Scarlet.
There were 5.3 million video game consoles sold across Europe in 2022 in the tracked markets, down 25 percent compared to 2021. It should be noted the hardware charts exclude two major European countries - the UK and Germany, as well as some smaller markets.
The Nintendo Switch was easily the best-selling console in the tracked European markets for 2022. However, sales were down 15 percent compared to 2021.
The PlayStation 5 was the second best-selling console with sales down 35 percent, while the Xbox Series X|S came in third place with sales up 4.4 percent.
The Nintendo Switch was the best-selling console in almost every country. The only places it wasn't number one was in Denmark and Sweden where the PlayStation 5 was number one and in Norway where the Xbox Series X|S was number one.
There were 18 million accessories sold in Europe, which is down over 10 percent compared to last year. The PS5 DualSense controller was the best-selling accessory with sales up 12 percent year-on-year. The PS4 DualShock controller came in second wit sales down 3.2 percent, followed by the Nintendo Switch Joy-Cons with sales down 23.7 percent, and the Xbox Series Wireless Controller with sales down 32.2 percent.
European GSD 2022 Top 20 (Digital + Physical)
| Position | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 | FIFA 23 (EA) |
| 2 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Activision Blizzard) |
| 3 | Elden Ring (Bandai Namco) |
| 4 | Grand Theft Auto 5 (Rockstar) |
| 5 | FIFA 22 (EA) |
| 6 | Pokémon Legends: Arceus (Nintendo)* |
| 7 | God of War Ragnarok (Sony) |
| 8 | LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (Warner Bros) |
| 9 | Horizon: Forbidden West (Sony) |
| 10 | Gran Turismo 7 |
| 11 | Mario Kart 8: Deluxe (Nintendo)* |
| 12 | Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar) |
| 13 | Nintendo Switch Sports (Nintendo)* |
| 14 | Pokémon Violet (Nintendo)* |
| 15 | F1 22 (EA) |
| 16 | Pokémon Scarlet (Nintendo)* |
| 17 | Minecraft: SWitch Edition (Nintendo/Mojang)* |
| 18 | Assassin's Creed Valhalla (Ubisoft)* |
| 19 | Kirby and the Forgotten Land (Nintendo)* |
| 20 | Mario Party Superstars (Nintendo)* |
* Digital data unavailable
European GSD 2022 Top 10 (Physical Only)
| Position | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 | FIFA 23 (EA) |
| 2 | Pokémon Legends: Arceus (Nintendo) |
| 3 | Mario Kart 8: Deluxe (Nintendo) |
| 4 | Nintendo Switch Sports (Nintendo) |
| 5 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Activision Blizzard) |
| 6 | Horizon: Forbidden West (Sony) |
| 7 | God of War Ragnarok (Sony) |
| 8 | Pokémon Violet (Nintendo) |
| 9 | FIFA 22 (EA) |
| 10 | Gran Turismo 7 |
European GSD 2022 Top 10 (Digital Only)
| Position | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 | FIFA 23 (EA) |
| 2 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Activision Blizzard) |
| 3 | Elden Ring (Bandai Namco) |
| 4 | Grand Theft Auto 5 (Rockstar) |
| 5 | FIFA 22 (EA) |
| 6 | Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar) |
| 7 | LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (Warner Bros) |
| 8 | God of War Ragnarok (Sony) |
| 9 | F1 22 (EA) |
| 10 | Gran Turismo 7 (Sony) |
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.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.