Criticism and scandals didn't stop Assassin's Creed Shadows from becoming the most successful new release of 2025 in Europe
GSD, an analytical agency that tracks video game sales in the European market, has shared statistics for the first half of 2025 with The Game Business.
Here's What We Know
The information collected from 1 January to 28 July states that the best-selling new game in Europe was Assassin's Creed Shadows, the interest in which was not hindered by criticism, scandals or calls for a boycott. Ubisoft's action game beat such competitors as Split Fiction, Monster Hunter Wilds, Mario Kart World and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2.
According to statistics, 71 million PC and console games were sold in Europe in the first half of the year, down 6 per cent on the same period last year. Of those, 52 million were digital copies (down 3%), while 19.7 million were physical copies (down 9%).
Still, Shadows was behind EA Sports FC 25, which was released in 2024, in the overall sales category.
In the RPG segment, Monster Hunter Wilds ranked 7th, ahead of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 (10th), Oblivion Remastered (11th) and Elden Ring: Nightreign (13th). The highly regarded Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 didn't make the rankings because its publisher doesn't share data with GSD.
The best new IP was Split Fiction from EA and Hazelight, which ranked 6th. Incidentally, Hazelight Studios' previous game, It Takes Two (2021), also made the top 20, coming in at 14th place.
GSD analyst Sam Naji said that while sales were down 9%, total spending on games was down just 2% to €1.33bn, due to an increase in the average price of games - €29 versus €27 a year earlier. Digital sales were up 8% thanks to a 15% increase in average price (€25 vs €22). Meanwhile, physical sales were down 17% and the average price increased by only 2% (€40 vs €39).
Source: The Game Business
