FF7 Rebirth Soars to No. 3 US Chart After Strong Steam Launch

January 2025 proved to be a relatively quiet month in the video game industry, mirroring the typical lull often seen at the start of the year. Only one new title, Donkey Kong Country: Returns, managed to break into the top 20 best-selling games, highlighting the continued dominance of established titles like Call of Duty. However, a surprising comeback story emerged: Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth.

Initially released in February 2024, Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth debuted at number two on Circana's US sales charts but gradually slipped to number 17 by year's end. While respectable, these figures reportedly fell short of Square Enix's expectations, prompting speculation about the game's performance relative to other major RPG releases of 2024, such as Dragon's Dogma 2. Square Enix's silence on specific sales figures further fueled this speculation.

The game's initial PlayStation 5 exclusivity likely contributed to its comparatively lower sales compared to cross-platform releases. However, January 2025 marked a turning point. The game's launch on Steam propelled it from number 56 in December to number three in January. The Final Fantasy VII: Remake & Rebirth Twin Pack also saw a significant surge, climbing from number 265 to number 16.

Circana analyst Mat Piscatella highlighted the game's "fantastic" Steam launch, noting it was the best-selling game for the week ending January 25th in the US market, with the Twin Pack ranking third. While these figures represent US sales alone, they suggest a similar positive trend in other regions. This success raises questions about Square Enix's future approach to platform exclusivity for Final Fantasy titles. Piscatella commented: "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. 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 remainder of the top 20 largely reflected established titles, with Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Madden NFL 25 securing the top spots. The only new entry, Donkey Kong Country: Returns, debuted at number eight, driven solely by physical sales due to Nintendo's withholding of digital sales data. It Takes Two also re-entered the top 20 at number 20, attributed partly to promotional efforts linked to Hazelight Studios' upcoming release, Split Fiction.

Overall, January 2025 saw a 15% decrease in games spending compared to January 2024, partly due to a shorter tracking period this year (four weeks versus five). This decline extended to accessories (-28%), content (-12%), and hardware (-45%), with all major consoles experiencing significant year-over-year hardware sales drops. Despite the overall downturn, the PS5 remained the best-selling console in both dollar and unit sales.

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.