Nintendo Switch sales up 39% across Europe in May | European Monthly Charts
Latest GSD figures show very strong month for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Hogwarts Legacy
Sales of video games, hardware and accessories surged across Europe last month, driven by the launch of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
Nearly 10.6 million digital and physical games were sold across Europe last month, the latest GSD data reveals.
This covers all retail games released in major European markets, plus digital games from most AAA publishers in all European territories.
It's a 33% jump in sales over the same period in May 2022, and that's almost entirely down The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, which is the runaway success of the month, selling more than 2.5x the second placed game: Hogwarts Legacy.
After just three weeks on sale, Zelda is already the third best-selling game of the year across Europe, behind EA's FIFA 23 and Warner Bros' Hogwarts Legacy. It's worth noting that Nintendo does not share digital download data with the charts, whereas EA and Warner Bros, do. If we look purely at physical retail sales, Zelda is already the No.1 game of the year across European markets.
The second-placed game is Hogwarts Legacy, which posted a 321% jump in sales month-on-month due to the release of the PS4 and Xbox One version of the game. For May, 71.5% of Hogwarts sales were on PS4, and 11.7% came on Xbox One. The remainder were on current generation systems and PC.
The only other new releases in the Top 20 is Lego 2K Drive, which is down at No.19.
Switch reclaims top spot from PlayStation as hardware jumps 40%
Nintendo Switch overtook PS5 in May to become Europe's No.1 console once again, driven by the release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Switch sales across Europe are up over 39% compared with May last year. PS5 had to settle for No.2, but it remains a strong force across Europe, and sales for PS5 are up 81% compared with May 2022.
Xbox Series S and X are in third position, with sales down 16% over May last year.
Overall, 429,000 games consoles were sold across tracked European markets last year, that's a rise of 40% over the year before (notable missing countries include Germany and UK, for UK hardware data, click here).
The Zelda Amiibo is the fifth biggest accessory
Over in peripherals and add-on products, 1.3 million of accessories and toys-to-life figures were sold across Europe last month, which is up 30% year-on-year.
The PS5 DualSense remains No.1, ahead of the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller. The Switch pad jumped 530% in sales following the release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and there was also a special edition Zelda Pro Controller, which sold out globally last month.
Speaking of Zelda, the Tears of the Kingdom Amiibo, which was released alongside the game, was the fifth best-selling accessory of the month. The Nintendo Switch OLED Carry Case also debuts at No.10, following the release of a Zelda version.
Finally, in terms of points cards and wallets, 1.35 million of these items were sold last month, which is up 2.7% over May 2022. The PlayStation Store Wallet Top-Up Card remains No.1.
European GSD May 2023 Top 20 (Digital + Physical)
| Position | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 | The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo)* |
| 2 | Hogwarts Legacy (Warner Bros) |
| 3 | FIFA 23 (EA) |
| 4 | Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (EA) |
| 5 | Grand Theft Auto 5 (Rockstar) |
| 6 | Far Cry 6 (Ubisoft) |
| 7 | NBA 2K23 (2K Games) |
| 8 | Dead Island 2 (Plaion) |
| 9 | Mario Kart 8: Deluxe* (Nintendo) |
| 10 | Tom Clancy's The Division 2 (Ubisoft) |
| 11 | Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar) |
| 12 | Metro Exodus (Deep Silver) |
| 13 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Activision Blizzard) |
| 14 | Mortal Kombat 11 (Warner Bros) |
| 15 | Dead Island: Definitive Edition (Deep Silver) |
| 16 | Grand Theft Auto Online (Rockstar) |
| 17 | Assassin's Creed: Valhalla (Ubisoft) |
| 18 | Minecraft: Switch Edition (Mojang)* |
| 19 | Lego 2K Drive (2K Games) |
| 20 | Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (Warner Bros) |
* 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.
GSD European May Top 20