January 2025 marked another quiet month for video game releases, with only one new entry making it into the top 20 best-sellers. While the month was largely dominated by predictable hits like Call of Duty, it also showcased a potential revival for a title from the previous year: Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth.

Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth initially launched in February 2024, debuting at No.2 on Circana's U.S. sales charts. Its performance waned over the year, slipping to No.7 in March and ending at No.17. Despite these respectable numbers, Square Enix expressed disappointment in the game's sales, never revealing specific figures. This was partly attributed to its exclusivity to the PS5, which often poses a challenge for sales compared to multi-platform releases.

However, January 2025 saw a significant turnaround for Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth with its debut on Steam. The game surged from No.56 in December to No.3 on the January charts. The Final Fantasy 7: Remake & Rebirth Twin Pack also saw a dramatic rise from No.265 to No.16. Circana analyst Mat Piscatella highlighted the success of Rebirth's Steam launch, noting it as 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 strong performance on PC could influence Square Enix's strategy for future releases, potentially shifting towards cross-platform launches. Piscatella commented on the broader implications, stating, "Releasing on PC makes a ton of sense at this point regardless of genre or historical release strategies." He added that exclusive releases are becoming increasingly challenging without significant incentives from platform holders.

As for other notable entries in the January charts, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Madden NFL 25 continued their dominance, securing the top two spots. The only new release to break into 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 comeback, reaching No.20, buoyed by promotional efforts ahead of Hazelight Studios' upcoming game, Split Fiction, set for release in March.

Despite these highlights, overall spending on video games in January 2025 was down compared to the previous year. The tracking period for January 2025 was four weeks, versus five weeks in 2024, which contributed to a 15% drop in overall spending to $4.5 billion. Content spending decreased by 12%, with console content down 35%, and hardware spending fell by 45%. PS5 led in hardware sales, followed by Xbox Series and Switch.

Here are the top 20 best-selling games in the U.S. for January 2025, ranked by 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

*Note: Some digital sales data, particularly from Nintendo and Take-Two, is not included in Circana's report.