January 2025 proved to be a quiet month for the video game industry, with only one new release making it into the top 20 best-selling games. Despite the dominance of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, the month was marked by a notable resurgence of Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth, which had been considered a sales disappointment the previous year.
Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth initially launched in February 2024, securing the No.2 spot on Circana's charts, which rank video games by dollar sales in the U.S. However, it quickly declined to No.7 in March and ended the year at No.17. Square Enix expressed disappointment with the sales, never revealing specific figures. The game's initial release was exclusive to the PS5, which can impact sales compared to cross-platform releases.
However, the tide turned in January 2025 when Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth became available on Steam, propelling it to No.3 on the Circana charts from No.56 in December. The Final Fantasy 7: Remake & Rebirth Twin Pack also saw a significant rise, moving from No.265 in December to No.16 in January, thanks to the Steam launch.
Circana analyst Mat Piscatella highlighted the success of Rebirth's Steam launch, noting it was the best-selling game of the week ending January 25th in the U.S. market. The Twin Pack ranked third. This performance suggests a potential shift in Square Enix's strategy toward cross-platform releases for future titles. Piscatella commented, "Releasing on PC makes a ton of sense at this point regardless of genre or historical release strategies." He added, "It's looking harder and harder to release exclusively on a single platform without significant incentives provided by the platform holder."
Square Enix's next earnings call in May will likely shed more light on their response to these developments.
As for other games, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 continued to dominate, 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 solely based on physical sales. It Takes Two also returned to the top 20 at No.20, boosted by promotions ahead of Hazelight Studios' upcoming game, Split Fiction, set for release in March.
Overall, January 2025 saw a 15% decrease in game spending compared to the previous year, totaling $4.5 billion. This drop can be attributed to the shorter tracking period of four weeks in 2025, compared to five weeks in 2024. Accessories spending fell by 28%, content spending by 12%, and console content by 35%. Hardware spending also declined by 45%, with PS5 down 38%, Xbox Series down 50%, and Switch down 53%. Despite these declines, PS5 remained the best-selling hardware in both dollars and units.
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.
