EA Sports FC 27 tops the charts in Spain as Wolverine and Fire Emblem round out the podium

September paints a very familiar picture of the Spanish market: football is back on top. As reported by Vandal, the Spanish Video Game Association (AEVI) has published its list of the best-selling games at physical retail last month, based on data from GSD (Game Sales Data). The winner is EA Sports FC 27, taking first place with its PS5 version. EA's game also shows up in seventh place with its Nintendo Switch edition and in eighth with its PS4 version.

Why does it matter? These charts are a barometer of what the general public buys: the players who don't live in ranked or follow tournaments, but who end up filling the lobbies. The fact that the football series outsold a release as high-profile as Marvel's Wolverine confirms that, in Spain, virtual football is still close to a sure bet. And that has direct consequences for the competitive scene and for anyone who makes a living creating content.

What you need to know

• EA Sports FC 27 (PS5) is the best-selling physical game in Spain in September, according to AEVI with data from GSD.
• Marvel's Wolverine (PS5) takes second place and Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave (Switch 2) takes third.
• FC 27 places three versions in the top 10: PS5 (1st), Switch (7th) and PS4 (8th).
• PS5 dominates the chart: five of the top six spots belong to Sony's console.
• The data only covers physical retail; digital sales are not included.

September's top sellers, spot by spot

Here is the ranking as it appears in the information published by Vandal. Ninth and tenth place don't appear in the excerpt we worked from, so we'd rather not fill them in from memory.

What this chart tells us

The first thing that jumps out is how much weight PS5 carries in Spanish retail: it takes up almost the entire top of the chart. Behind football comes a block heavily defined by action and horror, with The Blood of Dawnwalker, Silent Hill: Townfall and Onimusha: Way of the Sword lined up from fourth to sixth place. It's a sign that people who buy in stores still respond to single-player games with a recognizable name.

Fire Emblem in third place is the only game that breaks Sony's grip on the podium, and it does so on Switch 2, which reinforces the idea that Nintendo's new console already has real pull of its own. Just as striking is seeing FC 27 on PS4 in the top 10: the previous generation is still alive for a large share of football fans. That said, the chart only ranks positions and doesn't provide unit figures, so we don't know how big the gap is between one spot and the next.

Our take

FC 27 leading the chart surprises no one, but it's worth reading it correctly. This is a physical sales chart, and a very large part of the competitive audience buys digitally, so the picture is incomplete. Even so, seeing the game spread across PS5, Switch and PS4 says a lot: the player base is huge and broad, and that translates into fast matchmaking and a steady pipeline of people who end up in competitive modes without having planned to.

For content creators, the message cuts both ways. Virtual football guarantees an audience, but it's also one of the most saturated niches out there, and standing out takes more than just uploading matches. On the other hand, titles like Wolverine, Fire Emblem or the horror trio sitting mid-table offer narrower but far less crowded opportunities: guides, challenges, speedruns or first-impressions series with their own identity can pay off more than yet another pack-opening video.

Our criticism is aimed at the industry itself: as long as official charts stick to retail, we'll keep measuring the market with one eye closed. We want public digital data, because that's what truly reflects how the community we care about actually plays.

What do you think?

Are you surprised that football won again, or is it what you expect every September? Did you buy any of these games on disc, or are you strictly a digital-store player these days? Drop by the team chat or our Discord and tell us: which of these releases do you think will have the longest competitive and content life between now and the end of the year?