Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth Climbs to No.3 in U.S. Charts After Steam Launch

January 2025 proved to be a subdued month for the video game industry, with only a single new release making it into the top 20 best-selling games. However, the month wasn't without its highlights, particularly the notable resurgence of Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth.

Initially launched in February 2024, Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth secured the No.2 spot on Circana's charts, which measure U.S. dollar sales. Despite slipping to No.7 in March and ending the year at No.17, questions lingered about its performance relative to Square Enix's expectations and other RPGs such as Dragon's Dogma 2 and Final Fantasy 7: Remake. Square Enix acknowledged that the game fell short of their sales targets, refraining from disclosing specific sales figures.

Originally exclusive to the PS5, Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth expanded its reach by launching on Steam in January 2025. This move propelled the game from No.56 in December to No.3 on the January charts. The Final Fantasy 7: Remake & Rebirth Twin Pack also saw a significant jump, moving from No.265 to No.16. Circana analyst Mat Piscatella noted the game's "fantastic" launch on Steam, highlighting its status as the best-selling game of the week ending January 25th in the U.S. market based on dollar sales, with the Twin Pack ranking third.

This success on Steam suggests a broader appeal for the game beyond its initial platform exclusivity, potentially influencing Square Enix's strategy for future releases. Piscatella emphasized the positive consumer response to the PC launch, indicating that releasing on PC could be a wise strategy for publishers moving forward. He stated, "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."

As we await Square Enix's next earnings call in May, it will be interesting to see how they respond to these developments.

Meanwhile, the rest of January's top-selling games saw no surprises with Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Madden NFL 25 leading the pack. The only new release to break into the top 20 was Donkey Kong Country: Returns on the Nintendo Switch, securing the No.8 spot based solely on physical sales, as Nintendo does not share digital sales data.

It Takes Two also re-entered the top 20 at No.20, driven by ongoing promotions and steady sales, particularly boosted by a rally that began in December and carried into January. This resurgence aligns with promotional efforts ahead of Hazelight Studios' upcoming game, Split Fiction, set to release in March.

Overall, January 2025 showed a decline in gaming industry spending compared to the previous year. The shorter four-week tracking period this year compared to five weeks in 2024 contributed to a 15% decrease in total spending, amounting to $4.5 billion. Content spending fell by 12%, with console content down 35%, and hardware spending plummeted by 45%. PS5 hardware spending decreased by 38%, Xbox Series by 50%, and Switch by 53%. Despite these declines, PS5 remained the top-selling hardware in both dollars and units, followed by Xbox Series in hardware spending and Switch in unit sales.

Here are 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.