January 2025 was a relatively quiet month for the video game industry, with only one new release making it into the top 20 best-selling games. However, the month was marked by a notable resurgence of Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth, which had previously been considered a sales disappointment by its publisher, Square Enix.

Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth initially launched in February 2024, debuting at No.2 on Circana's charts, which rank video games by dollar sales in the U.S. The game saw a decline in subsequent months, dropping to No.7 in March and finishing the year at No.17. Despite these respectable numbers, Square Enix expressed that the game did not meet their sales expectations, and no specific sales figures were disclosed.

The game's fortunes changed in January 2025 when it was released on Steam, breaking its exclusivity to the PS5. This move propelled Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth from No.56 in December to No.3 on the Circana charts for January. The Final Fantasy 7: Remake & Rebirth Twin Pack also saw a significant rise, moving from No.265 to No.16. Circana analyst Mat Piscatella highlighted the game's "fantastic" Steam launch, noting it was the best-selling game of the week ending January 25th in the U.S. market, with the Twin Pack ranking third.

This success on Steam suggests that a cross-platform release could be beneficial for future Final Fantasy titles. Piscatella commented that the strong consumer response to the Steam launch underscores the importance of releasing games on PC, regardless of genre or historical release strategies. He also noted that it's becoming increasingly challenging for third-party publishers to justify exclusive releases without significant incentives from platform holders.

As for the rest of the top 20, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 continued its dominance, securing the top spot, followed by Madden NFL 25. The only new release to crack the top 20 was Donkey Kong Country: Returns on Nintendo Switch, reaching No.8 based solely on physical sales. It Takes Two also made a notable return to the top 20 at No.20, driven by ongoing promotions and a sales rally that began in December.

Overall, January 2025 saw a decline in gaming spending compared to the previous year. The tracking period for January 2025 was four weeks long, compared to five weeks in 2024, which contributed to a 15% decrease in overall spending to $4.5 billion. Accessories spending was down 28% year-over-year, content spending decreased by 12%, and hardware spending saw a significant 45% drop. PS5 remained the best-selling hardware in both dollars and units, followed by Xbox Series in hardware spending and Switch in unit sales.

The top 20 best-selling games in the U.S. for January 2025, based on dollar sales, were as follows:

1. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
2. Madden NFL 25
3. Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth
4. EA Sports FC 25
5. Minecraft*
6. Marvel's Spider-Man 2
7. EA Sports College Football 25
8. Donkey Kong Country Returns*
9. Hogwarts Legacy
10. Sonic Generations
11. Helldivers II
12. Astro Bot
13. Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero
14. Super Mario Party Jamboree*
15. Elden Ring
16. Final Fantasy VII Remake & Rebirth Twin Pack
17. Mario Kart 8*
18. The Crew: Motorfest
19. UFC 5
20. 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.