Top 10 in Sales – Europe: 2012 Edition

Welcome to the ‘Top 10’ weekly feature. Each week we will be taking a look at the top 10 selling games in a particular genre, platform, most recent month, even sprinkling in the top 10 selling games from a past year. All sales specified will be worldwide, unless stated otherwise. If there is a particular top 10 you want to see leave a comment and it may be featured in a future top 10.

Over the next month we will be taking a look at the top 10 selling games in 2012 by region. This week we will be taking a look at the top 10 selling games in Europe in 2012. Last week we looked at the top 10 selling games in the USA in 2012 and the week before that the top 10 selling 3DS games in 2012.

Top 10 Selling Games in Europe in 2012

Looking at the top 10 bestselling games in Europe in 2012, nine of the games were released in 2012 and one was released in 2011. For the titles released in 2012 one was released in August, two in September, one in October, and five in November.

The nine titles in 2012 sold a combined 19.7 million units or 94.8 percent of the total games sold in the top 10. The one game released in 2011, Mario Kart 7, sold a 1.08 million units or 5.2 percent of the total games sold in the top 10.

The top 10 bestselling games in Europe in 2012 sold a combined 20.78 million games in 2012. This is 8.17 million units less than the top 10 in the USA sold. No games in Europe sold five million units in 2012, however the top three sold more than three million units. Also the top four sold more than two million units. The entire top 10 sold more than one million units.

Three games are first party, one published by Microsoft and two by Nintendo and seven games are third party. The third party publishers include two Electronic Arts titles, two Activision titles and three Ubisoft titles. The one title published by Microsoft, Halo 4, sold 1.55 million units or 7.5 percent of the total games sold in the top 10. The two titles published by Nintendo sold a combined 2.30 million units or 11.1 percent of the total games sold in the top 10.

The two Electronic Arts titles, two versions of FIFA Soccer 13, sold a combined 6.67 million units or 32.1 percent of the total games sold in the top 10. The two Activision titles, two versions of Call of Duty: Black Ops II, sold a combined 6.43 million units or 30.9 percent of the total games sold in the top 10. The three Ubisoft titles, two versions of Assassin’s Creed III and Just Dance 4, sold a combined 4.25 million units or 20.5 percent of the total games sold in the top 10.

Top 10 Selling Games in Europe in 2012

The top 10 bestselling games in Europe in 2012 as a graph shows how four titles sold well above the rest and the other six games sold pretty evenly. If you combine the sales of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox versions of Assassin’s Creed III it sold more than any other game in the top 10 that only has one version of the game. FIFA Soccer 13 was the bestselling game in Europe in 2012, followed by Call of Duty: Black Ops II.

Looking at the top 10 by platform four of the titles were released for the Xbox 360, three for the PlayStation 3, two for the 3DS and one for the Wii. The four Xbox 360 titles sold a combined 8.58 million units or 41.3 percent of the total games sold in the top 10. The three PlayStation 3 titles sold a combined 8.36 million units or 40.2 percent of the total games sold in the top 10. The two 3DS titles sold a combined 2.3 million units or 11.1 percent of the total games sold in the top 10.

Here are the rest of the top 10 bestselling games in Europe in 2012: There were 17.07 million home console and handhelds sold for the entire year. This is a 25.9 percent drop year-on-year. This is 1.93 million units less than in the USA in 2012. There were also 144.17 million games sold in 2012. This is a 16.2 percent drop year-on-year. This is 66.99 million units less than in the USA in 2012.

The top 11 titles sold more than one million units and the top 45 titles sold more than 500,000 units. The top 136 titles sold more than 200,000 units and the top 269 units sold more than 100,000.

Nintendo sold more games in the USA in 2012 than the other two first party publishers, Microsoft and Sony. Nintendo sold 15.03 million games across its four platforms, the Wii, Wii U, DS, and 3DS. Microsoft sold 6.87 million games for the Xbox 360. Sony sold 6.01 million games for the PlayStation 3, PSP, and PlayStation Vita.

Electronic Arts was the biggest publisher in the USA in 2012, selling 25.62 million games. Activision sold 17.86 million games and Ubisoft 15.71 million games. Take-Two sold 6.68 million games, Sega sold 6.04 million games, THQ sold 4.76 million games, Warner Bros. sold 4.44 million units, and Square Enix sold 4.01 million games.

The top 100 can be seen below, or click here to view the complete chart.

Pos

Game

Weeks

Yearly

Total