A year ago, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s first month outsold all of May 2024’s best-selling games combined

The top ten best-selling games from this May reportedly don’t hold a candle to The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s European performance from this time last year.

Tears of the Kingdom was, obviously, a massive game – and I’m not just talking about its three-tier, cloudy, grassy, subterranean overworlds. The smash sequel sold over 10 million copies in three days alone, and alongside other Nintendo Switch-era Zelda games, it accounts for 40% of all series sales.

To emphasize the point further, a new report from GamesIndustry.biz states that Tears of the Kingdom single-handedly sold more copies when it launched in May 2023 than the entire top ten best-selling games from May 2024 – across European markets, I might add. According to the site’s sales charts, this year’s top ten includes mostly perennial hits with EA Sports FC 24, Grand Theft Auto 5, Helldivers 2, Hogwarts Legacy, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order all placing. 

2024’s May lineup was also a little slim when it comes to blockbuster games. Senua’s Saga: Hellblde 2 was probably the biggest, most-talked about release, meanwhile, Codemaster’s F1 24 debuted at number three on the charts but sold 35% fewer copies than last May’s entry. 

May 2024 saw game sales drop 17%, which doesn’t seem too bad when you consider this month was relatively bare and last May enjoyed the release of one of the year’s best-selling games. Also worth noting that Hogwarts Legacy launched on Xbox One and PS4 this time last year, and that game was an absolute sales juggernaut everywhere, but especially in Europe. 

For more, check out the upcoming games of 2024 and beyond.