January is typically a quiet month for video game releases, and 2025 was no different. With only one new title, Donkey Kong Country: Returns on Nintendo Switch, making it into the top 20 and the usual dominance of Call of Duty, there wasn't much to celebrate from last month. However, the month saw a potential comeback for a game that was considered a sales disappointment in 2024: Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth.
Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth, which debuted in February 2024 at No.2 on Circana's charts, had a promising start but saw its position decline to No.7 the following month and ended the year at No.17. Despite these respectable numbers, Square Enix expressed disappointment in the game's sales, failing to meet their expectations and not releasing any sales figures. The game's initial release was exclusive to the PS5, a factor that often limits sales compared to cross-platform releases.
However, January 2025 marked a significant shift as Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth became available on Steam, propelling it to No.3 on the Circana charts from a modest No.56 in December. The Final Fantasy 7: Remake & Rebirth Twin Pack also saw a remarkable rise, moving from No.265 to No.16 in the same period, thanks to the Steam debut.
Circana analyst Mat Piscatella highlighted the success of Rebirth's Steam launch on Bluesky, stating that it was the best-selling game of the week ending January 25th in the U.S. market in terms of dollar sales, with the Twin Pack ranking third. This success in the U.S. likely reflects similar trends globally, suggesting that Square Enix might reconsider its strategy for future Final Fantasy releases in favor of cross-platform launches. Piscatella noted, "Releasing on PC makes a ton of sense at this point regardless of genre or historical release strategies," and emphasized the challenges of single-platform exclusivity without significant incentives.
We'll have to wait until Square Enix's next earnings call in May to see their official response to these developments.
As expected, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Madden NFL 25 topped the sales charts for January, with Donkey Kong Country: Returns on Nintendo Switch being the only new release to break into the top 20 at No.8, driven by physical sales alone. It Takes Two also made a notable return to the top 20 at No.20, benefiting from promotional efforts in the last week of January on both the PlayStation store and eShop, as well as steady sales throughout the month.
The promotions for It Takes Two coincide with the upcoming release of Hazelight Studios' next game, Split Fiction, set for March.
Overall, January's gaming spending figures were down compared to last year, partly due to the tracking period being one week shorter in 2025. Total spending was down 15% to $4.5 billion, with content spending down 12%, console content down 35%, and hardware spending down a significant 45%. PS5 hardware spending decreased by 38%, Xbox Series by 50%, and Switch by 53%. Despite these declines, PS5 remained the best-selling hardware in both 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.
