Europe video game sales drop nearly 17% y/y in May, GI.biz reports

11.6M video games on PC and consoles were purchased across European markets last month, marking a nearly 17% year-over-year drop from the same five-week period last year, Gamesindustry.biz’s Christopher Dring reports, citing data from GSD, which tracks all digital game sales from most major publishers and physical game sales in all major European markets. The main reason for the year-over-year decline is the release of Nintendo’s (NTDOY) major hit “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom” in May 2023, the author notes. According to GSD, the top-selling video game in Europe in May was Electronic Arts’ (EA) “EA Sports FC 24,” followed by Take-Two’s (TTWO) “Grand Theft Auto V,” EA’s “F1 2024,” Sony‘s (SONY) “Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut,” and Nintendo’s “Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.” Other top sellers for the month were Activision’s (MSFT) “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3,” Warner Bros. Discovery’s (WBD) “Hogwarts Legacy,” Sony’s “Helldivers 2,” EA’s “Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order,” and Take-Two’s “Red Dead Redemption 2.”