January 2025 marked a notably quiet period in the video game industry, with only one new title, Donkey Kong Country: Returns on Nintendo Switch, breaking into the top 20 best-selling games. However, the month was not without its highlights, particularly the resurgence of Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth.
Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth initially launched in February 2024, securing the No.2 spot on Circana's charts for U.S. dollar sales. Despite a promising start, the game's performance waned over the year, slipping to No.7 in March and concluding at No.17. Square Enix expressed disappointment in the game's sales, never releasing specific figures, which hinted at underwhelming results compared to expectations and other major RPGs like Dragon's Dogma 2 and its predecessor, Final Fantasy 7: Remake. The game's initial release was exclusive to the PS5, a factor that can limit sales potential due to a narrower market reach.
However, January 2025 brought a significant turnaround for Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth when it became available on Steam. This move propelled the game from No.56 in December to No.3 on the Circana charts. The Final Fantasy 7: Remake & Rebirth Twin Pack also saw a remarkable rise, jumping from No.265 to No.16. Circana analyst Mat Piscatella highlighted the game's "fantastic" Steam launch, noting it as the best-selling game of the week ending January 25th in the U.S. market based on dollar sales, with the Twin Pack ranking third.
This success on Steam suggests a broader appeal and potential shift in Square Enix's strategy towards multi-platform releases. Piscatella emphasized the growing difficulty for third-party publishers to justify single-platform exclusivity without significant incentives from platform holders. The industry's response to this trend will be clearer following Square Enix's next earnings call in May.
Despite Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth's resurgence, overall gaming spending in January 2025 was down compared to the previous year. Total spending decreased by 15% to $4.5 billion, influenced by a shorter tracking period of four weeks versus five in 2024. Content spending fell by 12%, with console content down 35%, and hardware spending plummeted by 45%. PS5 hardware sales were down 38% year-over-year, Xbox Series by 50%, and Switch by 53%. Despite these declines, PS5 remained the best-selling hardware in both dollars and units.
In other notable developments, It Takes Two re-entered the top 20 at No.20, driven by steady sales and promotional efforts in anticipation of Hazelight Studios' upcoming game, Split Fiction, set for release in March.
The top 20 best-selling games in the U.S. for January 2025, based on dollar sales, were:
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
- Madden NFL 25
- Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth
- EA Sports FC 25
- Minecraft*
- Marvel's Spider-Man 2
- EA Sports College Football 25
- Donkey Kong Country Returns*
- Hogwarts Legacy
- Sonic Generations
- Helldivers II
- Astro Bot
- Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero
- Super Mario Party Jamboree*
- Elden Ring
- Final Fantasy VII Remake & Rebirth Twin Pack
- Mario Kart 8*
- The Crew: Motorfest
- UFC 5
- It Takes Two*
* Indicates that some or all digital sales are not included in Circana's data. Some publishers, including Nintendo and Take-Two, do not share certain digital data for this report.
