By Sagar V. Mankar 
Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth has demonstrated a remarkable turnaround in January 2025, shooting up from 56th of December to 3rd place in US sales rankings following its Steam release. According to Circana analyst Mat Piscatella, this success marks a significant shift for the game, which had previously fallen short of Square Enix’s expectations during its PS5-exclusive launch in February 2024.
The game’s Twin Pack bundle, which includes both Final Fantasy 7: Remake and Rebirth, also saw impressive growth, climbing from 265th to 16th place. This performance on PC platforms might influence Square Enix’s future platform strategy, particularly regarding exclusive releases.
U.S. Sales Charts – January 2025
While Final Fantasy made waves, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 maintained its dominance at the top of the charts, followed by Madden NFL 25.
The month saw only one new release break into the top 20 – Donkey Kong Country Returns on Nintendo Switch, which secured the 8th position based solely on physical sales data.
A surprising entry in the charts was It Takes Two, which returned at number 20, boosted by promotional activities across various digital storefronts. This resurgence comes ahead of Hazelight Studios’ upcoming release, Split Fiction, scheduled for March.
Here are the top 20 best-selling games in the US 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
Hardware Market Faces Steep Declines
In the hardware segment, January 2025 revealed significant challenges across all platforms. Circana reports that hardware sales experienced a steep 45% decline to $205 million, marking the lowest January total since 2020.
PlayStation 5 maintained its market leadership despite a 38% decrease in sales, while Xbox Series and Nintendo Switch saw even steeper declines of 50% and 53% respectively.
The accessories market also faced headwinds, with spending down 28% to $194 million compared to the previous year. Despite the overall decline, the PlayStation Portal emerged as the month’s top-selling accessory by revenue, while the DualSense Wireless Controller in Midnight Black led in unit sales.
Overall Industry Trends
Overall market performance showed a 15% year-over-year decline, with total consumer spending reaching $4.5 billion.
Video game content spending fell 12% to $4.1 billion, though there were some positive indicators.
Non-mobile subscription spending grew by 13%, and mobile spending increased by 2%. However, these gains couldn’t offset the significant 35% drop in console content spending.
Looking Ahead
It’s worth noting that January 2025’s tracking period was four weeks compared to January 2024’s five weeks, which partially explains some of the year-over-year differences.
Nevertheless, the data suggests the gaming industry faces notable challenges as it progresses through 2025, even as certain segments like PC gaming and digital subscriptions show promising growth potential.