download.jpg

A new report for video game sales in the month of October has FIFA 21 and Star Wars: Squadrons in the lead. Electronic Arts took the one and two spots with the top selling games in the Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Australia, or EMEAA, region.

FIFA 21 and Star Wars: Squadrons were both released at the beginning of October as some of the last large releases before the new console generation takes over. FIFA is an incredibly popular franchise worldwide, but that did not stop this latest title from receiving mixed reviews as there seems to be an ever growing fatigue of yearly sports games that do little to change their formulas. Star Wars: Squadrons, meanwhile, is the latest Star Wars video game after last year's critically acclaimed Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and it was a vastly different gaming experience. Squadrons did not do nearly as well critically as Fallen Order, but it was still a financial success for the IP with a generally positive reception.

A report by Gamesindustry.biz shows the top gaming sales in the EMEAA market from last month, taking into account both physical and digital sales except for a few games where the digital sales info was not available. With EA taking the top two spots, Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time took third, Watch Dogs: Legion, which came out at the very end of October, managed to snag fourth, and Grand Theft Auto 5 fittingly enough rounded out the top five. Out of the top twenty games, five belonged to Ubisoft with three of those being from the Assassin's Creed franchise.

download (1).jpg

Nintendo also has a very strong presence in the EMEAA region. The Nintendo Switch is still the console of choice with sales up 77 percent in 2020 compared to the sales from October 2019. The success of Switch has also given rise to Nintendo games, matching Ubisoft with five games listed in the top twenty. This means that half of the twenty most popular games in the EMEAA are developed by only two companies.

These are the last monthly sales figures before the release of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. There is a strong likelihood that many of these games will lose their spots in the top 20 with massive releases such as Assassin's Creed: Vahalla, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, and more launching with the consoles. It will be interesting to see if FIFA 21, Star Wars: Squadrons, or any of the other titles currently on the list weather the new console storm in the EMEAA and if Nintendo will hold onto its supremacy now that it is getting fresh competition.