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

January 2025 was a relatively quiet month for video game releases, with only one new title, Donkey Kong Country: Returns on Nintendo Switch, making it into the top 20 best-selling games. However, the month was marked by the notable performance of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, which once again topped the charts, followed closely by Madden NFL 25. Amidst this, Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth made a significant comeback, signaling a potential shift in the gaming industry's approach to platform exclusivity.

Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth, which initially launched in February 2024 as a PS5 exclusive, faced challenges in meeting Square Enix's sales expectations. It debuted at No.2 on Circana's charts but saw a decline, ending the year at No.17. However, its release on Steam in January 2025 changed the narrative. The game surged to No.3 on the charts from No.56 in December, and the Final Fantasy 7: Remake & Rebirth Twin Pack climbed from No.265 to No.16. This success was not limited to the U.S.; Circana analyst Mat Piscatella noted that Rebirth had a "fantastic" Steam launch, becoming the best-selling game of the week ending January 25th in the U.S. market.

This performance on Steam suggests that a cross-platform release could be beneficial for future Final Fantasy titles. Piscatella emphasized that releasing on PC is increasingly important for third-party publishers, stating, "It's looking harder and harder to release exclusively on a single platform without significant incentives provided by the platform holder." The industry's response to this trend will be clearer after Square Enix's next earnings call in May.

In other news, It Takes Two re-entered the top 20 at No.20, driven by steady sales and promotional efforts ahead of Hazelight Studios' upcoming game, Split Fiction, set to release in March. Despite these highlights, overall spending in January 2025 was down compared to the previous year, with a 15% decrease to $4.5 billion. This decline can be attributed to the shorter tracking period of four weeks this year compared to five weeks in 2024. Content spending fell by 12%, with console content down 35%, and hardware spending dropped by 45%. PS5 led in hardware sales, followed by Xbox Series and Switch.

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

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.