January 2025 was a subdued month for video game releases, with only one new title, Donkey Kong Country: Returns on Nintendo Switch, making it into the top 20 best-sellers. However, the month was marked by significant developments, particularly with Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth's impressive performance following its release on Steam.
Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth, which initially launched in February 2024 as a PS5 exclusive, faced scrutiny over its sales. After debuting at No.2 on Circana's charts, it fell to No.7 in March and ended the year at No.17. Square Enix had expressed disappointment in the game's sales, but the narrative shifted in January 2025 when Rebirth was released on Steam. This move propelled the game from No.56 in December to No.3 in January's charts. The Final Fantasy 7: Remake & Rebirth Twin Pack also saw a remarkable climb from No.265 to No.16.
Circana analyst Mat Piscatella highlighted Rebirth's "fantastic" Steam launch, noting that it was the best-selling game of the week ending January 25th in the U.S. market based on dollar sales. This success story suggests that a PC launch can significantly boost sales, prompting speculation about Square Enix's future release strategies. Piscatella commented that releasing on PC makes sense across genres and could influence third-party publishers to avoid exclusive releases unless incentivized by platform holders.
As for the rest of the top 20, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Madden NFL 25 maintained their dominance, while Donkey Kong Country: Returns on Nintendo Switch reached No.8. It Takes Two also returned to the top 20 at No.20, buoyed by ongoing promotions and the anticipation for Hazelight Studios' upcoming game, Split Fiction, set to release in March.
Overall, spending on games in January 2025 was down compared to the previous year, with a 15% decrease to $4.5 billion, influenced by a shorter tracking period. Content spending dropped by 12%, with console content down 35%, and hardware spending decreased by 45%. 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 as follows:
- 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.
