Elden Ring is Europe's biggest new game franchise launch since The Division
It's selling GRReat.
Elden Ring was the biggest game of February across Europe, and is the biggest new IP launch since The Division in 2016.
We already knew it was the biggest Souls launch ever, but now it's also the biggest game launch since Call of Duty: Vanguard in November 2021, as per GamesIndustry.biz.
Elden Ring was number one in most major European countries, except Germany where Pokémon Legends: Arceus topped the chart.
It sold best on PC, with 44 percent of total sales. PS5 follows with 27 percent, then Xbox with 16 percent, and PS4 with 13 percent.
Horizon Forbidden West was second in the sales chart and was the biggest PS5 launch outside of Call of Duty. Of its sales, 59 percent were on PS5. The remainder were on PS4, proving Sony right about launching across both platforms. Then again, it was cheaper on the older console and offered a free upgrade to PS5 which likely skewed numbers.
The best-selling single format game (available on one platform) was Pokémon Legends: Arceus. This is based purely on physical sales as Nintendo doesn't share digital numbers, so the overall total will be even higher.
We know, too, that its sales were massive in just the first week.
Rounding out the top five is new zombie game Dying Light 2: Stay Human, which sold best on PS5 (44 percent), followed by PS4 (28 percent), Xbox consoles (16 percent), and PC (12 percent).
In total, 13.56m games were sold across European markets in February. That's up 8 percent over February 2021, which was relatively light compared to this year's big hitters.