The best-selling new game of 2025 in Europe is not Monster Hunter Wilds
We're more than halfway through the year and you already know what we think the best video games of 2025 have been so far. But which ones have sold the most?
If we're talking worldwide, that accolade goes to Monster Hunter Wilds. While sales have slowed down over the last several months, it has still sold more than 10 million copies, after an early February launch.
However, new sales data shows that the picture in Europe is somewhat different, revealing that a different title has beaten Capcom's smash hit, although the best seller overall is an older game from 2024.
According to sales data by European charts company GSD, as shared with The Game Business, Europe's most successful new release of the year is Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Shadows, which launched a month after Monster Hunter Wilds in March.
Although Ubisoft has been reticent to share exact sales figures (only saying the game has reached more than five million players), it's always seemed like Ubisoft is happy with Assassin's Creed Shadows' performance.
In the company's report for the 2025 fiscal year, Ubisoft said the game had 'the second highest day one sales revenue in franchise history – second only to Assassin's Creed Valhalla – setting a new record for Ubisoft's day one performance on the PlayStation digital store.'
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Ubisoft must be relieved considering Assassin's Creed Shadow's pre-release period was plagued by controversy, regarding the inclusion of Yasuke, a black samurai, as one of the playable protagonists.
Despite so much online outrage directed towards the game (to the point where Ubisoft felt it had to introduce new measures to protect its staff from abuse), clearly most people didn't care and just wanted to play the new Assassin's Creed.
While Ubisoft did offer a bizarre semi-apology to try and placate dissenters, it's very hard to imagine that made any difference. More Trending
All that said, Assassin's Creed Shadows is not the best-selling game in Europe altogether. That spot belongs to EA Sports FC 25, which isn't that surprising as the top-seller is usually a game from the previous year, and usually either FIFA/EA Sports FC or Call Of Duty.
EA Sports FC 25 (EA) Assassin's Creed Shadows (Ubisoft) Grand Theft Auto 5 (Rockstar) Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar) Hogwarts Legacy (Warner Bros) Split Fiction (EA) Monster Hunter Wilds (Capcom) Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (Activision Blizzard) Mario Kart World (Nintendo) (digital sales data unavailable) Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 (Plaion) The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered (Bethesda) Star Wars Battlefront 2 (EA) Elden Ring: Nightreign (Bandai Namco) It Takes Two (EA) Grand Theft Auto Online (Rockstar) NBA 2K25 (2K Games) F1 25 (EA) Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege (Ubisoft) Mario Kart 8: Deluxe (Nintendo) (digital sales data unavailable) Battlefield 1 (EA)
Despite this success, EA Sports FC 25 has reportedly been something of a flop, at least by the standards of the series. At the beginning of the year, EA admitted the game's sales had underperformed, which led to copious job cuts.
GSD reports that overall spending on consoles and PC in Europe has dropped by over 2%, while overall unit sales have dropped by 9% – something GSD attributes to the 8% increase in the average selling price of games.
That said, digital spending still increased by 8% (again, due to price increases) while physical games spending dropped by 16%. Just in case you needed another reminder of the dwindling relevance of physical releases.
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For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.
MORE: UK game console sales drop 25% as even Call Of Duty and FC 25 decline
MORE: Assassin's Creed Shadows on Switch 2 all but confirmed for next Nintendo Direct
MORE: Weirdly Mario Kart World is only the third best selling Switch 2 digital game
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