January 2025 marked another quiet month in the video game industry, with minimal new releases making waves. However, the spotlight was firmly on Call of Duty, which continued its reign at the top of the sales charts. Yet, the month also brought a surprising resurgence for a title that had faced scrutiny in 2024: Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth.
Originally launched in February 2024, Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth debuted at No.2 on Circana's U.S. dollar sales chart. However, its performance waned, slipping to No.7 the next month and concluding the year at No.17. Square Enix expressed disappointment with the game's sales, withholding specific figures and fueling speculation about its commercial viability compared to other major RPGs like Dragon's Dogma 2 and Final Fantasy 7: Remake.
The game's fortunes changed in January 2025 when it transitioned from a PS5 exclusive to a multi-platform release, debuting on Steam. This move propelled Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth from No.56 in December to No.3 on the January charts. Similarly, the Final Fantasy 7: Remake & Rebirth Twin Pack surged from No.265 to No.16, highlighting the impact of the Steam launch.
Circana analyst Mat Piscatella praised the game's Steam debut, noting that Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth was the best-selling game in the U.S. for the week ending January 25th, with the Twin Pack ranking third. This success could signal a shift in Square Enix's strategy for future Final Fantasy releases, favoring cross-platform launches. Piscatella commented, "Releasing on PC makes a ton of sense at this point regardless of genre or historical release strategies," emphasizing the challenges of exclusive releases without significant platform incentives.
As we await Square Enix's next earnings call in May, the industry watches closely to see how this resurgence might influence their future plans.
Elsewhere on the charts, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Madden NFL 25 maintained their dominance, while Donkey Kong Country: Returns on Nintendo Switch was the only new release to crack the top 20, reaching No.8 based solely on physical sales. It Takes Two also made a notable return to the top 20 at No.20, buoyed by promotions and steady sales throughout January, ahead of Hazelight Studios' upcoming Split Fiction in March.
Overall, January's gaming spending was down compared to the previous year, with a 15% decrease to $4.5 billion, partly due to a shorter tracking period. Content spending fell by 12%, console content by 35%, and hardware spending by a significant 45%. PS5 led hardware sales, despite a 38% drop year-over-year, followed by Xbox Series and Switch.
Here are the top 20 best-selling games in the U.S. for January 2025, based on dollar sales:
* 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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