Listen, we get it – the Switch is doing incredible business right now. Nintendo’s system took the crown in North America, Japan and the UK, and we’ve now had confirmation that it was top dog in mainland Europe, too.
Sales tracker GSD (thanks, GamesIndustry.biz) – which compiles data from European territories such as Benelux, France, Switzerland, Nordics and Poland – has confirmed that the Switch was Europe’s most popular gaming platform last year, with sales spiking by 22% over the same period in 2019. Switch outsold the PS4 by almost three-to-one, with PS5 taking third place. Xbox Series X was fourth, followed by Xbox One.
In terms of software, Nintendo was the biggest publisher of boxed games in Europe, taking 28% of the market share. EA was second with around half that percentage. Ubisoft led the way in terms of digital sales, with EA again in second (Nintendo does not share specific digital sales data).
FIFA 21 was Europe’s most popular video game in 2020, when taking into account both physical and digital sales. Animal Crossing: New Horizons was third, but, because this doesn’t include downloaded copies of the game, it’s highly likely that it actually ranks higher. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe took 6th position, while Super Mario 3D All-Stars was 12th. Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition, Ring Fit Adventure and Super Mario Party were 15th, 18th and 20th respectively, while Just Dance 2021 – which sold best on Switch – managed 19th place.
GSD Annual 2020 Top 20 Video Games (Digital + Physical)
| Position | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 | FIFA 21 (EA) |
| 2 | Grand Theft Auto 5 (Rockstar) |
| 3 | Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo)* |
| 4 | FIFA 20 (EA) |
| 5 | Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War (Activision Blizzard) |
| 6 | Mario Kart 8: Deluxe (Nintendo)* |
| 7 | The Last of Us Part 2 (Sony) |
| 8 | Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (Ubisoft) |
| 9 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare |
| 10 | Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar) |
| 11 | NBA 2K20 (2K Games) |
| 12 | Super Mario 3D All-Stars (Nintendo)* |
| 13 | Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege (Ubisoft) |
| 14 | Cyberpunk 2077 (CD Projekt)* |
| 15 | Minecraft: Switch Edition (Nintendo/Microsoft)* |
| 16 | Ghost of Tsushima (Sony) |
| 17 | Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (Ubisoft) |
| 18 | Ring Fit Adventure (Nintendo) |
| 19 | Just Dance 2020 |
| 20 | Super Mario Party (Nintendo)* |
Congrats Nintendo! Well deserved!
It still blows my mind that GTA V still sells so well. I know GTA Online is still huge, but 8 years on, who doesn’t own a copy now? Lol.
As for the Switch and titles like Animal Crossing New Horizons, the Pandemic and Lockdown definitely played a huge part in the sales boost last year. Those that couldn’t get one when Nintendo couldn’t keep up with demand in the first lockdown got one for or around Christmas time & the Switch Lite was popular with people who wanted to just play on the go.
Ring Fit Adventure would no doubt have been massively popular too due to Gyms being shut.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is another great lockdown Title too for Families.
Remasters like the Mario Remasters & no doubt upcoming Zelda and Pokemon Remasters will carry on boosting Sales along with the other big releases like Breath of the Wild 2 that will come later this year.
Nintendo for me are about innovation, and people need that right now.
@zool if you were offended by me finding your comment odd, I apologize, it just seems to me that apples are being compared to apples, units sold against units sold.
But I must maintain that your examples seem off (to me).
Nissans do significantly outsell Rolls Royces. If I’m an accessory maker who makes profit on volume sales, I will produce Nissan accessories. If I’m a luxury maker, I’ll produce for the Rolls.
But I don’t see any £400 luxury games for PS5, because it’s a mass market consumer electronics device. (And Rolls aren’t sold at a loss)
You can get in a twist that it’s the ‘best home games console there is’ but it feels like fanboyism at play, particularly when you ignore the PS5 digital edition price (£349), inflate the base edition price by £50 (actually £449), and do the opposite for the Switch, ignoring the base edition (£279, which globally has outsold the lite by ~3:1) for the cheaper lite price of £199. The price difference for the models is a range from £240 – £80 or 0.4x to 1.2x, not quite the same as your example where the price difference starts at ~11x (Qashqai ~£22k vs Phantom £270k).
Which is fine, but then your complaint comes across as skewed by your PS affinity.
