January 2025 was a subdued month for the video game industry, with only one new release making it into the top 20 best-sellers and the usual suspects like Call of Duty continuing to dominate. However, there's an intriguing narrative unfolding with Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth, a title that seemed to underperform last year but is now experiencing a resurgence.

Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth initially launched in February 2024, securing the No.2 spot on Circana's charts, which track video game sales in the U.S. by dollar value. Its performance waned over the months, slipping to No.7 in March and ending the year at No.17. Despite these respectable figures, Square Enix expressed disappointment over the game's sales, withholding specific sales data, which hinted at underwhelming performance compared to expectations and other major RPGs like Dragon's Dogma 2 and Final Fantasy 7: Remake.

Originally a PS5 exclusive, Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth's exclusivity posed a challenge to its sales potential. However, its launch on Steam in January 2025 marked a significant turning point. The game soared from No.56 in December to No.3 on the Circana charts, while the Final Fantasy 7: Remake & Rebirth Twin Pack climbed from No.265 to No.16. This resurgence was not limited to the U.S.; Circana analyst Mat Piscatella noted on Bluesky that Rebirth 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 PC has sparked speculation about Square Enix's future release strategies. Piscatella commented, "It's hard for me to say what impact the Steam release has on publisher perception of overall title success... But purely looking at consumer response, it was a very good launch month on Steam. This launch does provide yet another benchmark that shows releasing on PC makes a ton of sense at this point regardless of genre or historical release strategies."

Piscatella also noted the challenges of single-platform exclusivity, saying, "For 3rd party publishers, it's looking harder and harder to release exclusively on a single platform without significant incentives provided by the platform holder." The industry will be watching Square Enix's next earnings call in May to see if this success influences their strategy.

In other news, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 continued its reign as the best-selling game of January, followed by Madden NFL 25. The only new entry in the top 20 was Donkey Kong Country: Returns on Nintendo Switch, which reached No.8 solely based on physical sales data, as Nintendo does not share digital sales figures.

It Takes Two also made a notable return to the top 20, ranking at No.20. Piscatella attributed this to ongoing promotions, particularly in the last week of January on the PlayStation Store and eShop. The resurgence of It Takes Two coincides with anticipation for Hazelight Studios' upcoming game, Split Fiction, set for release in March.

Overall, January's spending figures were down compared to the previous year, partly due to the tracking period being one week shorter. Total spending fell by 15% to $4.5 billion, with content spending down 12% and hardware spending down a significant 45%. PS5, despite a 38% year-over-year decline, remained the best-selling hardware in both dollars and units, followed by Xbox Series and Nintendo Switch.

Here's the list of the top 20 best-selling games in the U.S. for January 2025, based on dollar sales:

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.