Grand Theft Auto 5 is No.1 again in August | European Monthly Charts

11.8 million console and PC games were sold across Europe in August, a rise of 7% over the year before.

That’s according to the latest figures from GSD, which tracks digital sales from most major publishers and physical sales in all major European markets.

The jump in sales in August was due to discounts and promotions around legacy games, including August’s No.1 game: Grand Theft Auto 5 (sales up 5.7% year-on-year). Plus the launch of Star Wars Outlaws, which was the second best-selling game of August.

Note: Black Myth: Wukong, which was the other big release of August, is largely absent from the charts as the game’s digital sales are missing from the data (the physical version reached No.68).

It was a disappointing launch for Ubisoft’s big Star Wars game. The first week’s sales were less than half of what EA’s Star Wars Jedi: Survivor managed to achieve back in 2023. It did, however, sell better than 2020’s space combat game Star Wars Squadrons (also by EA).

Other games that jumped up the charts this week include Kingdom Come Deliverance, which is at No.4 after the game fell below £3 on Steam. Meanwhile, Borderlands 3 bounces up the charts following the release of the movie and the announcement of Borderlands 4.

One of the most talked about games of August was Sony’s Concord release, which failed to find an audience and was subsequently pulled from sale. The game charted at No.347 across Europe for August. It was the 13th best-selling new game of August, behind Nintendo’s Emio: The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club. Note: Nintendo games do not include digital sales.

In terms of hardware, just over 300,000 games consoles were sold across tracked European markets, which is a drop of 42% over August last year but 12% up over July.

PS5 is comfortably the No.1 console, despite sales falling by more than 50% year-on-year, while Nintendo Switch is No.2 (sales down 25% over August last year). For across tracked markets, overall console sales are down 29% year-to-date.

Over in accessories, 1.1 million items were sold across tracked markets, a drop of over 17% year-on-year.

European GSD August 2024 Top 10 (Digital + Physical)

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, Tencent, 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.