Summary
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Major game console sales in Europe declined in 2024 due to market saturation and lack of new releases.
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The PlayStation 5 Pro was the only new console from the big companies, but it couldn't prevent the overall decline in sales.
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Overall game sales in Europe are set to grow by just 1% in 2024, with digital sales rising and physical copies falling.
2024 was not a great year for video game consoles in parts of Europe, including all the big players like Switch, Xbox and PlayStation. The year 2024 seems to have experienced a downward trend for new console sales in the region, but it wasn't all bad news for the gaming industry.
In 2024, the only new console that was produced by the big three gaming companies was the PlayStation 5 Pro, which is a revamped version of an existing console. While many fans were eager to get a Sony-branded console with more power, it doesn't seem to have been enough to keep European numbers up for the year compared to previous years.

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In a report released by Video Games Chronicle, data indicates that the PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch didn't have a great year in Europe, with total game console sales down 21% compared to the previous year. PlayStation, likely due to the launch of the PS5 Pro, had the best numbers for the year, but its sales were still down 20% from 2023. The Nintendo Switch saw a 15% drop from 2023, while the Xbox Series X/S has seen a staggering decline. decrease of 48%. It is speculated that this is largely due to the fact that the current console market has become somewhat stagnant, with the original PS5 and Xbox Series consoles being released in 2020 and the Nintendo Switch as early as 2017. On Amazon's US site, the Meta Quest 3S sold more. all major game consoles in 2024, likely indicating that console sales are stagnating in many territories.
Video game sales change and growth stagnates
Overall, gaming did not see much growth in Europe for the year, with 188.1 million PC and console games sold in 2024, which is just a 1% increase from the previous year. While any increase is a good thing, it's probably less than most game publishers would have liked. The figures also point to a shift in how gamers get their games, with digital game sales rising to 131.6 million, a 15% increase from 2023, while just 56.5 million copies of physical games were sold, down 22% compared to the previous year.
Overall, 2025 is expected to be a stronger year for gambling in Europe and the world. The Nintendo Switch 2 will be released sometime this year, which will likely generate a lot of sales. However, it's worth noting that the console sales figures don't include the UK, Germany, the Netherlands or Austria, among others. It's possible that if those locations were factored in, the numbers wouldn't look quite as bad for 2024.