January 2025 marked another quiet month for the video game industry, with only one new release managing to break into the top 20 best-sellers. Call of Duty continued its reign at the top of the charts, but the real story of the month was the resurgence of Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth.
Initially launched in February 2024, Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth quickly climbed to No.2 on Circana's charts, which rank video games by dollar sales in the U.S. However, its ranking slipped to No.7 the following month and ended the year at No.17. Despite these respectable figures, Square Enix expressed disappointment with the game's sales, failing to meet their expectations and withholding any specific sales figures.
The game's fortunes changed in January 2025 when it became available on Steam, breaking its PS5 exclusivity. This move propelled Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth from No.56 in December to No.3 on the Circana charts for January. Similarly, the Final Fantasy 7: Remake & Rebirth Twin Pack surged from No.265 to No.16. According to Circana analyst Mat Piscatella, Rebirth had a "fantastic" launch on Steam, topping the sales charts for the week ending January 25th in the U.S.
This success story on PC could influence Square Enix's strategy for future releases, potentially favoring cross-platform launches over platform exclusivity. Piscatella emphasized the importance of PC releases, stating, "releasing on PC makes a ton of sense at this point regardless of genre or historical release strategies." He also noted the challenges of maintaining exclusivity without substantial incentives from platform holders.
As we await Square Enix's next earnings call in May, the industry watches closely to see how this might affect their future plans.
The rest of the January charts saw familiar names at the top, with Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Madden NFL 25 leading the pack. The only new entry in the top 20 was Donkey Kong Country: Returns on Nintendo Switch, reaching No.8 based solely on physical sales data, as Nintendo does not share digital sales figures.
Another notable return was It Takes Two, which re-entered the top 20 at No.20. Its resurgence can be attributed to ongoing promotions across various platforms and a general uptick in sales and engagement that started in December, according to Piscatella. This comes ahead of the release of Hazelight Studios' next game, Split Fiction, set for March.
Overall, January 2025 saw a dip in gaming spending compared to the previous year, partly due to a shorter tracking period. Total spending dropped by 15% to $4.5 billion, with content spending down 12%, console content down 35%, and hardware spending down a significant 45%. PS5 led hardware sales in both dollars and units, followed by Xbox Series in spending and Switch in unit sales.
Here are the top 20 best-selling games in the U.S. for January 2025, based on dollar sales:
- 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.
