Assassin's Creed Shadows has been hitting big sales numbers in Europe since its March release this year, hurling to the continent's number-one bestseller spot in 2025 so far… with just a little caveat. The actual best-selling game in Europe this year was EA Sports FC 25 from September 2024. Awkward!
Christopher Dring of The Game Business newsletter reports official European gaming industry sales tracker Game Sales Data (GSD) recently shared with him that, in terms of 2025 video game releases, Assassin's Creed Shadows was able to knock out formidable competitors in reaching the top of the European game sales list. This includes Split Fiction (number six bestseller, released March, 2025); Monster Hunter Wilds (number seven, released February, 2025); and hallowed Switch 2 launch title Mario Kart World (Europe's ninth bestseller). But it couldn't handle EA Sports FC 25.
EA Sports FC 25 – the 2024 football sim currently enjoying decidedly Mixed reviews on Steam, with 43% of them being Negative – is a mighty foe, you see.
"FC 25 is yet another disappointing entry in a series that seems to get worse each year," says one popular Steam review.
"Manipulative, Frustrating, and Designed to Break You," agrees another. So that's good. In any case, Assassin's Creed Shadows was no match for this okayish sports sim from last year – and apparently, the rest of the gaming industry fared poorly by 2024 standards, too.
Most game-related sales in Europe are down from 2024. Through July 28, 71 million games on all platforms were sold in Europe, a 6% drop from last year. Physical game sales, at 19.7 million units, have also fallen by 9%. GTA 6 was supposed to assist the stumbling games industry this year, but with its new 2026 release date, it wasn't meant to be.
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