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[jm89]

Helldivers 2 is a major hit in the UK | UK February Charts

2.77 million video games were sold in the UK during February, a drop of 5.5% over the year before.This is based on data…

www.gamesindustry.biz

2.77 million video games were sold in the UK during February, a drop of 5.5% over the year before.
This is based on data from GSD, which tracks digital game sales from most major publishers, and all physical sales. The notable absent game from the charts is Palworld, because the game's developer isn’t included in the GSD system.
The 5.5% drop last month is actually an impressive result, because last year saw the blockbuster launch of Hogwarts Legacy, which was one of the biggest game releases of the year.

The reason for the relatively small drop? Helldivers 2, which was comfortably the No.1 game of February 2024.
The Sony game achieved the rare feat of seeing its sales grow week-over-week. During its second week on sale, sales were up nearly 115%, and then it grew again by nearly 21% during its third week.
It's also a real hit on both PC and PS5, with 57% of sales coming on the PlayStation, and the rest on PC.

It's a hugely impressive performance for a relatively unknown franchise. To put its success into context, the game's first three weeks on sale is only 28% lower than what Sony's Spider-Man 2 achieved during its first three weeks on sale last year.
The next new release in the charts is Warner Bros' Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League at No.4. The game has performed below the publisher's expectations, and its first four weeks on sale is 20% lower than what both 2022's Gotham Knights and 2021's Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy managed.
Also new at No.8 is Skull and Bones. Again, it's not a huge launch for the pirate game, with its opening two weeks 75% lower than what Sea of Thieves managed way back in March 2018.
Elsewhere, Persona 3 Reload debuts at No.10, Mario vs Donkey Kong lands at No.16 and new IP Pacific Drift slides in at No.18

Over in consoles, 95,855 games consoles were sold in the UK during February, a drop of 33% over the year before, and down 13% over the previous month.
This is according to GfK panel data, which tracks console sales in the UK.
PS5 was the leading platform by a large margin, but sales were down 2% month-on-month and 28% year-on-year.
Nintendo Switch just about takes second spot, with Xbox Series S and X in third position. Both platforms saw big drops over the same period in 2023. Currently, the entire console business is 29% down in the UK year-to-date.
This is partially due to the sudden arrival of console stock this time last year after a period of low supply. There was also a Hogwarts Legacy effect on the market. According to GfK, PS5 and Xbox sales grew 27% and 21% in February compared with January, boosted by the launch of Warner Bros' Harry Potter spin-off.
Plus, Nintendo Switch has been on the market for some time, and it's natural to see sales fall in its seventh year.

Over in accessories, 609,425 add-on products were sold during February, which is down 12% over January but up 16% over the same period in 2023.
The white DualSense PS5 controller leads the market again, while the Robot White Wireless Xbox controller comes in second place.
There was also a strong debut for Sony’s Pulse Elite Premium Headset in the final week of February – it debuted at No.15 by volume and No.4 by revenue, and in terms of just gaming headsets was No.4 by volume and No.1 by revenue – all after just one week on sale.

UK GSD February 2024 Top 10 (Digital and Physical)​

Position	Title
1	Helldivers 2 (Sony)
2	EA Sports FC 24 (EA)
3	Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Activision Blizzard)
4	Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League (Warner Bros)
5	Grand Theft Auto 5 (Rockstar)
6	Hogwarts Legacy (Warner Bros)
7	Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar)
8	Skull and Bones (Ubisoft)
9	The Last of Us Part 2: Remastered (Sony)
10	Persona 3 Reload (Sega)

*Digital data unavailable

 

[jm89]

Whoops meant february 2024, if a mod could edit the title to correct it

 

[MasterCornholio]

Good to see that Helldivers is still doing well. Many gamers are benefiting from the game being really solid.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

To put Helldivers 2's UK performance into context. Its first three weeks on sale was only 28% lower than what Spider-Man 2 managed during its first three weeks.

Holy shit!

 

[H-I-M]

Nintendo Switch just about takes second spot, with Xbox Series S and X in third position. Both platforms saw big drops over the same period in 2023.

How does the Series S/X keep on having "big drops" despite already being at an all-time low ?

 

[Three]

And was a hit on both PS5 and PC (57% of sales were on PS5).

Goes completely against some of the silly system wars people were trying to push with this game.

 

[lh032]

"And was a hit on both PS5 and PC (57% of sales were on PS5)"

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

 

[Gaiff]

Goes completely against some of the silly system wars people were trying to push with this game.

That’s UK.

 

[Horseganador]

PS5 dominating sales while Xbox drops even further into third place and Helldivers 2 performing better every week.

 

[GeoramA]

So damn pathetic that Xbox can't outsell the 7 year old Switch, especially with all the Switch 2 rumors out there now.

Helldivers and PS5 sitting at #1, deservedly so.

 

[Gaiff]

Not sure what can be done about the Xbox at this point. There are also credible rumors it’s going to port AAA games to PlayStation. Phil may not admit that it’s dead but it effectively is.

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

How can Xbox have huge drops when last year was so bad? Is that console selling over 2M units this year?

 

[owandeseis]

Goes completely against some of the silly system wars people were trying to push with this game.

You realize it was this same guy (Chris Dring) who said the sales were being higher on PC right? not on UK region tho

 

[Gaiff]

You realize it was this same guy (Chris Dring) who said the sales were being higher on PC right? not on UK region tho

Aren’t those official numbers?

 

[owandeseis]

Aren’t those official numbers?

Which ones? both are , first ones were refering to the first 2 week sales on Europe + Australia and this is from the first 3 weeks on UK

 

[mansoor1980]

if someone here could improve the quality of my pic , would be sweet

 

[Gaiff]

AAAA game.

 

[Gaiff]

Which ones? both are , first ones were refering to the first 2 week sales on Europe + Australia and this is from the first 3 weeks on UK

I thought the 60% on PC part or whatever it was that the PC version had sold a lot more was an estimation without hard numbers.

 

[Jaybe]

Helldivers 2 sales are wild. Bet it passes Spider-man 2 in units at least by the time 2024 ends.

 

[NEbeast]

Where are all the goons from that dumb ass thread using the supposed playerbase split for HD2 as some slam dunk for PCMR.

 

[Jaybe]

Estimates from Installbase

So depending on YoY or MoM I get:
PS5: 51-53k
NSW: ~21k
Xbox: ~20k
Others: ~3k (guess)

 

[Woopah]

Helldivers 2 is rightly getting lots of plaudits for becoming a break out hit.

But the PS5 hardware performance is pretty good too as impressive. Its competing with the end of shortages and Hogwarts launch, and only down 2%.

Edit: Misread the PS5 decline, its actually down 28%.

 

[Three]

You realize it was this same guy (Chris Dring) who said the sales were being higher on PC right? not on UK region tho

I don't have a problem with what Chris has said in the past. I'm not saying it's contradicting what Chris has said regarding EU numbers for the first 2 weeks. I'm saying 57% on PS5 for the month goes completely against those who were claiming things like 75% of sales were on PC because they were incorrectly looking at other metrics.

 

[Dick Jones]

Shayn of the

AAAA game.

AAAA games have nothing to compare to.

So...
Skulls & Bones is the best performing AAAA game of all time.

 

[kazuyamishima]

Sales after 3 weeks in UK:

Niche-Man 2 ~450k
Helldivers 2 ~324k

But the PS5 hardware performance is just as impressive. Its competing with the end of shortages and Hogwarts launch, and only down 2%.

It’s 2% down compared to January 2024.

28% down compared to February 2023.

 

[HeWhoWalks]

Xbox is expanding!

 

[Heisenberg007]

AAAA games have nothing to compare to.

So...
Skulls & Bones is the best performing AAAA game of all time.

Yes, but only until Perfect Dark releases.

 

[Ozriel]

How does the Series S/X keep on having "big drops" despite already being at an all-time low ?

How can Xbox have huge drops when last year was so bad? Is that console selling over 2M units this year?

Feb 2023 wasn’t bad. both flagship consoles got a bump from Hogwarts Legacy.

 

[Dick Jones]

Yes, but only until Perfect Dark releases.

Ubisoft

 

[Rac3r]

Pretty amazing what Arrowhead accomplished with Helldivers 2. It's the game Sony needed most, just as all of their live service games seemed to be striking out (twisted metal, factions, etc). Still need to see what Haven and Firewalk have been cooking, but it'll be hard to replicate this kind of success. Marathon will probably be the only thing that comes close or surpasses it, within SIE.

 

[Woopah]

Sales after 3 weeks in UK:

Niche-Man 2 ~450k
Helldivers 2 ~324k


It’s 2% down compared to January 2024.

28% down compared to February 2023.

Ah yes I misread that. Thanks!

 

[jm89]

Maybe i've not been following that closeley and missed it.

But chris hasn't give splits from GSD between ps and xbox in ages.

The last one was RE4 that i can remember.

So why all of a sudden give out splits for ps5/pc?

He doesn't even give out the physical splits anymore if at all, whilst nintendo life still does proving that info is still available.

Damage controlling xbox sales for whatever reason.

 

[Unknown?]

How does the Series S/X keep on having "big drops" despite already being at an all-time low ?

When you announce you are ending the gen early, this is to be expected. Series will probably do only 5 million worldwide for the whole year. Possibly less.

 

[Ozriel]

Maybe i've not been following that closeley and missed it.

But chris hasn't give splits from GSD between ps and xbox in ages.

The last one was RE4 that i can remember.

So why all of a sudden give out splits for ps5/pc?

He doesn't even give out the physical splits anymore if at all, whilst nintendo life still does proving that info is still available.

Damage controlling xbox sales for whatever reason.

 

[jm89]

Lol there is no conspiracy. He stopped reporting it when things looked dire for Xbox.

 

[Mr Moose]

Maybe i've not been following that closeley and missed it.

But chris hasn't give splits from GSD between ps and xbox in ages.

The last one was RE4 that i can remember.

So why all of a sudden give out splits for ps5/pc?

He doesn't even give out the physical splits anymore if at all, whilst nintendo life still does proving that info is still available.

Damage controlling xbox sales for whatever reason.

He hasn't been the same since he was attacked on Twitter for talking shit about Xbox.

 

[Bojanglez]

I know a couple of Xbox guys that last week went and bought a PS5 just for Helldivers 2, crazy how it has caused that FOMO.

 

[Horseganador]

Maybe i've not been following that closeley and missed it.

But chris hasn't give splits from GSD between ps and xbox in ages.

The last one was RE4 that i can remember.

So why all of a sudden give out splits for ps5/pc?

He doesn't even give out the physical splits anymore if at all, whilst nintendo life still does proving that info is still available.

Damage controlling xbox sales for whatever reason.

You are not the only one who has noticed that "silence" before they said the sales ratio in the console multis, not now, they also avoid saying in percentage when Xbox has dropped but if they say it about PS5 why not give both data ...

 

[Raonak]

Helldivers 2 doing crazy numbers. Good to see it's selling awesome on PS5.

 

[Belthazar]

At this rate I can see HD2 outpacing Spidey 2 in units in the long run.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

HD2's performance is outright criminal and selfish it just hurts the industry

 

[Imtjnotu]

HD2's performance is outright criminal and selfish it just hurts the industry

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Holy shit!

I'm sure that is units rather than revenue. Someone correct me if I'm wrong though.

Still, really, really good.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Maybe i've not been following that closeley and missed it.

But chris hasn't give splits from GSD between ps and xbox in ages.

The last one was RE4 that i can remember.

So why all of a sudden give out splits for ps5/pc?

He doesn't even give out the physical splits anymore if at all, whilst nintendo life still does proving that info is still available.

Damage controlling xbox sales for whatever reason.

Now that the "console war" is over, we might be able to get significantly better data like we used to.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

 

[Insane Metal]

Goddamn I just LOVE democracy.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

That’s UK.

And UK market is very similar to the US market. Guess where Helldivers 2's biggest single market likely is? The U.S.

So logic would say that it's going to be a similar split for the game here as well. Now in some other markets it could lean PC, but considering the bulk of the game's sales are probably from European countries and the U.S, I'd expect global splits to favor PS5 something like 55/45.

Now that the "console war" is over, we might be able to get significantly better data like we used to.

It's not over, though. Nintendo is still around and Switch 2 could definitely compete with PS5 for market share if it's a solid enough follow-up to the original. And I'd say nowadays it's more a "core gaming war" because once-isolated platforms like PC now share significantly more with console libraries (aside Nintendo's) than they ever have in the past, so there's a lot more demographic crossover, more competition for the same customer type and all that.

Xbox being weakened doesn't make things any easier for PlayStation. Nintendo are very formidable in their own right and PC (mainly Steam) has been the sleeping giant finally waking up. No time to rest on laurels.

 

[MrTired]

UK sales February 2024 - PS5#1(-28%) NSW#2(down YOY) XBS#3(down YOY) / Helldivers 2#1 EA FC 24#2 MW3#3 Sales

Way more than that.

www.resetera.com

Helldivers has sold way more than 5 million according to insider Shinobi.

 

[Little Mac]

Maybe I should buy Helldivers 2.