The best selling games for the first half of 2023 in Europe have been revealed (thanks, GamesIndustry), and it's good news for fans of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
Nintendo's latest entry in the Zelda franchise came in fourth position overall, behind the likes of Hogwarts Legacy at No.1, Diablo 4 at No.2, and FIFA 23 at No.3. It should be noted, however, that Nintendo doesn't like to share digital sales for its games, so Zelda's performance here is based purely on its boxed sales. In fact, it's been confirmed that Zelda was confortably the best-selling physical game of the year so far.
Elsewhere, we've also got Mario Kart 8 Deluxe at No.12 and Nintendo Switch Sports at No.18. Again, these are based on boxed sales alone vs. the boxed and digital sales for the other games in the top 20.
It's possibly safe to assume that all three Nintendo titles would place higher if we had the digital data to go with the physical, but alas. Here is the top 20 in full:
| Position | Game |
|---|---|
| 1 | Hogwarts Legacy |
| 2 | Diablo IV |
| 3 | FIFA 23 |
| 4 | The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom |
| 5 | Grand Theft Auto V |
| 6 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II |
| 7 | Red Dead Redemption 2 |
| 8 | Star Wars Jedi: Survivor |
| 9 | NBA 2K23 |
| 10 | Resident Evil 4 |
| 11 | Gof of War Ragnarok |
| 12 | Mario Kart 8 Deluxe |
| 13 | Dead Island 2 |
| 14 | The Last of Us: Part II |
| 15 | Far Cry 6 |
| 16 | Final Fantasy XVI |
| 17 | Assassin's Creed Valhalla |
| 18 | Nintendo Switch Sports |
| 19 | Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege |
| 20 | Grand Theft Auto Online |
Which games have you picked up this year so far? Let us know in the comments down below.
[source gamesindustry.biz]
Comments 45
I prefer this game instead.
This game should landed on at least Top 30.
And this game will be my next purchase.
Only 7 of the games actually released in 2023 (GTA V is just behind TotK).
@Anti-Matter I wasn't expecting many people on here to know about Pretty Princess Magical Garden Island lol but this makes me so happy. I wish listed it instantly when I first saw it announced a few months ago! I still haven't finished the first game, Pretty Princess Party, but I'll definitely be buying this one as soon as I've saved up a bit more. It looks super cute (ﾉ*>∀<)ﾉ♡
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe coming in at number 12 is a surprise; it just keeps selling!
@KingofRedLions
Well, we can popularize the ordinary things if we believe the games are good to play.
Btw, I still have to maximize all the Princess parameters from Pretty Princess Party.
A lot of things to do.
Still bizarre that we don't have GTA V on Switch. It would make a lot of money to Rockstar. And would help Switch to sell more units, I think. Especially before Steam Deck release, imo. But... Rockstar are blinded by the money, probably. Also, Nintendo, probably, don't want to have a 3rd party game like GTA V to be the best-selling game on the console, I think.
@Anti-Matter Sadly, I don't have a great deal of time for gaming in general lately but I still make sure to load up Pretty Princess Party every day to collect lumina.
Pretty Princess Magical Garden Island was released the very next day after the June Direct and I remember feeling disappointed that it wasn't given a spot in the Direct.
Why is totk, one of the greatest games ever made, beat out by a copy-paste sports game that is re-released every year :/
@Vyacheslav333 Problem was and is the offline focus of the Switch. GTA V‘s real money maker is GTA Online. I‘ve heard in a podcast (probably Jeff Grubb) that this is the main reason.
Who are the people still buying GTA 5 ...I'd like to meet them and kindly ask why. GTA 6 could've released by now if not for this 10 year old game still selling like butter and milk.
Also, FIFA 23. A huge 'why' for that one, too.
@solarwolf07 if counting physical only, TOTK won as mentioned in the article. We just don't know about TOTK's digital sales. So I think, based only in 2023 so far and considering Fifa released In September, I would guess that TOTK is above overall this year alone.
But to your question, a lot of casual gamers buy consoles just to play Fifa/NBA 2k and/or COD and I don't blame them. Also, they are multi-platform, you shouldn't be surprised.
@Max_the_German Yet, they made GTA V for Xbox 360 and PS3. And they had not bad sales, I think. So, they are just greedy and lazy.
@Vil Me for example. I originally bought it physically for PS3 when released. Then, last year when I bought my PS5, GTAV was just re released for it at just 10$ digitally. But I didn't finish it again.
Same thing happens with Mario Kart 8 still selling huge: New Gamers buying new consoles
@Vil The Europeans love their virtual soccer (unless it is Mario Strikers apparently).
@nukatha Football/Soccer is probably the most popular sport not only in Europe, but worldwide (as I often say to myself: "Bald spielen wir fussbald" ).
@solarwolf07 because a lot of people enjoy playing those kinda games. Including myself. Let people play what they want to play. Hate this kinda judgement of peoples gaming choices.
Soon it will be one more Tears Of The Kingdom copy sold as a gift to me. Many games on this list, that I would like to purchase when the time is right, but for now I will concentrate on Nintendo games I missed.
Even the salesman mentioned today, that the new Zelda is selling really well. I bought Pikmin 4 today, but could not get Xenoblade Chronicles 3.
Disappointing. Kinda Surprised. Super Predictable. Well Deserved. How, still?? Predictable. Really? Fair enough. Really? Sure. Well Deserved. How, still?? Cool. Makes sense. Eh. Well Deserved. Really? Huh, ok. Sure. Really?
That was my reactions going down this list.
As a gamer who owns and loves every Nintendo AND Sony console, it’s hilarious how some people seem to need Nintendo to ‘win’ all the time.
@Ogbert
You forget with my reaction "I prefer other games instead".
Go Hogwarts! I gotta pick that game up later.
11 Gof of War Ragnarok 🤣🤣🤣
@Ryu_Niiyama As a Harry Potter fan you will not regret it. I wish they had spent a bit more time on it, but just running around the Hogwarts' castle is pretty awesome.
@Saturn589 Good to know. I never got into HP when it came out, but respect the world JKR created, and have hoped for a sandbox game that was set in universe but doesn’t focus on Harry. I feel like magic is really well suited for a video game and have been asking friends that have played about it.
Very impressive especially since it’s only physical sales and not a multi platform game. Congrats Nintendo on all the success!
1 and 2 are deserved, great games. 3 is meh but very popular.
LoZ TotK is the only game in the top 10 that is released on a single console.
Love to see Nintendo up there ... also really happy to see Far Cry 6 up so high, absolutely love that game ... and always makes me wonder why we haven''t seen any of them ported to the Switch
Does everyone not already own GTA V?? Like jeez, you'd think that everyone who wants it would have it from how many units they've sold.
How has Red Dead Redemption 2 finished ahead of Star Wars Jedi Survivor? Are people too scared to buy new games?
Why doesn't NintendoLife rebrand to "Constantly Telling You How The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is Selling".
@PinderSchloss as a fellow Nintendo AND Sony lover for life I think the 2010’s and WiiU era really put people into a bad place. Needing to “win” may just be a signifier the thing they love will stick around.
That's really impressive considering its an exclusive and not counting digital. Really happy to see TotK doing this well, might even be at 20M units worldwide already.
Why don’t they include digital sales for Nintendo games? No doubt it would have been number one.
@blockfight
I have nothing against the people who play these games. Just very perplexed that the copy-paste game released many times at full price is outselling it. Sorry if it came off the wrong way
@EaglyPurahfan errr what
Please read the chart probably and how it was spelt lol🤣
Nintendo has sold a lot of physical copies for this console, if they don't make the next console compatible with switch card games, nintendo reputation will be strongly damaged
@Anti-Matter wait how is it in your top 30 if you havent even played it yet what
@TheBigK i mean i dont have it yet and i want it just havent gotten around to it
@blockfight Nice pfp! Despite how much I love TOTK, I think hi fi rush might just be my GOTY.
@epicgamner
I have watched the gameplay from YouTube first and quickly sold with the gameplay, just only matter of time I got my salary then I will purchase the game.
Also, since the gameplay of Pretty Princess Magical Garden have similarities with Animal Crossing (even the world scrolling style) so I can guarantee the game will be good enough.
@Anti-Matter works for me
Oof. Gross top 3. No accounting for tastes, I guess.
@Hajilee you're right, that catchy.
@EaglyPurahfan no worries lol
@epicgamner Both games are amazing. I would still give TOTK the nod for GOTY but man Hi Fi Rush is definitely a close 2nd. Loved it the whole way through.
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