January 2025 marked another quiet month for the video game industry, with only one new release making it into the top 20 charts. Call of Duty continued its reign as the best-selling game, with Black Ops 6 leading the pack, followed closely by Madden NFL 25. The only new title to break into the top 20 was Donkey Kong Country: Returns on Nintendo Switch, securing the eighth spot thanks to strong physical sales.
However, the real story of January was the resurgence of Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth. Initially launched in February 2024 as a PS5 exclusive, it debuted at No.2 on Circana's charts but saw a decline, finishing the year at No.17. Square Enix had previously expressed disappointment over its sales, but the game's fortunes changed with its January 2025 release on Steam. This move propelled Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth from No.56 in December to an impressive No.3 on the January charts. Similarly, the Final Fantasy 7: Remake & Rebirth Twin Pack surged from No.265 to No.16.
Circana analyst Mat Piscatella highlighted the success of Rebirth's Steam launch, noting that it was the best-selling game of the week ending January 25th in the U.S. market, with the Twin Pack ranking third. This performance suggests that a PC launch can significantly boost sales, potentially influencing Square Enix's strategy for future Final Fantasy releases towards a more cross-platform approach. Piscatella emphasized the growing difficulty for third-party publishers to justify exclusive releases without substantial incentives from platform holders.
Looking at the broader market, overall gaming spending in January 2025 was down 15% from the previous year, totaling $4.5 billion. This decline can be attributed to a shorter tracking period of four weeks compared to five weeks in January 2024. Content spending dropped by 12%, with console content seeing a 35% decrease. Hardware spending also fell by 45%, with PS5, Xbox Series, and Switch experiencing declines of 38%, 50%, and 53%, respectively. Despite these drops, PS5 remained the best-selling hardware in both dollars and units.
Other notable movements included It Takes Two re-entering the top 20 at No.20, driven by ongoing promotions and a sales rally that began in December. These promotions coincide with the upcoming release of Hazelight Studios' next game, Split Fiction, set for March.
Here are 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.
As we await Square Enix's next earnings call in May, it will be interesting to see how these shifts in sales and platform strategies influence their future plans.
