January 2025 proved to be a relatively quiet month for the video game industry, mirroring the usual trends with only one new title breaking into the top 20 best-sellers. However, the month was notable for the resurgence of a game that had faced scrutiny the previous year: Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth.
Launched in February 2024, Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth initially secured the No.2 spot on Circana's U.S. dollar sales charts. Despite a respectable performance, dropping to No.7 in March and concluding the year at No.17, the game did not meet Square Enix's sales expectations. Initially released exclusively on the PS5, Rebirth faced the common challenges of platform-exclusive titles. However, its release on Steam in January 2025 marked a significant turnaround. Rebirth soared from No.56 in December to No.3 on the January charts, with the Final Fantasy 7: Remake & Rebirth Twin Pack also seeing a dramatic rise from No.265 to No.16.
Circana analyst Mat Piscatella highlighted the success of Rebirth's Steam launch, noting it as the best-selling game in the U.S. for the week ending January 25th. This strong performance across both physical and tracked digital sales suggests that similar trends may be occurring globally, potentially influencing Square Enix's future strategies for the Final Fantasy series. Piscatella emphasized the growing necessity for third-party publishers to consider multi-platform releases, stating, "It's looking harder and harder to release exclusively on a single platform without significant incentives provided by the platform holder."
As for the rest of the month's sales, it was no surprise that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 topped the charts, followed by Madden NFL 25. The only new release to break into the top 20 was Donkey Kong Country: Returns on Nintendo Switch, reaching No.8 based solely on physical sales. Additionally, It Takes Two re-entered the top 20 at No.20, boosted by promotional efforts in anticipation of Hazelight Studios' upcoming game, Split Fiction, set for release in March.
Despite these highlights, overall spending in January 2025 was down compared to the previous year. The month's four-week tracking period, compared to five weeks in 2024, contributed to a 15% decrease in total spending, reaching $4.5 billion. Content spending dropped by 12%, with console content down 35%, and hardware spending plummeted by 45%. PS5 led in hardware sales, both in dollars and units, followed by Xbox Series in spending and Switch in unit sales.
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.
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