January 2025's video game sales revealed a surprising resurgence for a title previously considered a sales underperformer: Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth. While the game's initial February 2024 launch, as a PS5 exclusive, yielded respectable but not spectacular results (peaking at #2 and ending the year at #17 on Circana's US dollar sales charts), its January 2025 Steam release propelled it to #3, a significant jump from December's #56.
The underwhelming initial performance sparked questions about whether the game met Square Enix's sales expectations, especially compared to other 2024 RPG releases. Square Enix's silence on sales figures further fueled speculation. However, the PC release dramatically altered the narrative.
The success wasn't limited to the standalone title. The Final Fantasy VII Remake & Rebirth Twin Pack also saw a dramatic increase, climbing from #265 in December to #16 in January. Circana analyst Mat Piscatella highlighted the "fantastic" Steam launch, noting it was the best-selling game for the week ending January 25th in the US.
This strong PC performance raises questions about Square Enix's future cross-platform strategies. Piscatella commented that while publisher perceptions are complex and depend on internal factors, the consumer response to the Steam release was overwhelmingly positive, reinforcing the value of PC releases for third-party publishers. He emphasized the increasing difficulty of maintaining platform exclusivity without substantial incentives from platform holders.
Despite Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth's success, overall January 2025 spending was down 15% year-over-year to $4.5 billion, partly attributed to a shorter tracking period (four weeks versus five in 2024). Hardware and accessory sales also experienced significant declines.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 remained the top-selling game, followed by Madden NFL 25. The only new entry in the top 20 was Donkey Kong Country: Returns on Nintendo Switch (#8), based solely on physical sales due to Nintendo's non-disclosure of digital sales data. It Takes Two's re-entry at #20 is attributed to ongoing promotion, particularly in late January, and a sales uptick starting in December. This promotion likely precedes the March release of Hazelight Studios' next game, Split Fiction.
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.
