Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth Hits No.3 in US Charts

January typically marks a slow period for video game releases, and January 2025 proved no exception. With only one new title breaking into the top 20 sales charts and Call of Duty continuing its predictable dominance, the month offered little excitement - except for a potential turnaround story concerning Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth, one of 2024's supposed commercial underperformers.

Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth initially launched in February 2024, debuting at No. 2 on Circana's U.S. sales charts. While its subsequent drop to No. 7 in March and year-end position at No. 17 represented decent performance, questions lingered about whether Square Enix considered these satisfactory results, especially compared to rival RPGs released that year like Dragon's Dogma 2 or even its predecessor Final Fantasy VII Remake. The publisher publicly stated the game fell short of sales expectations, conspicuously withholding specific sales figures - typically an indication of disappointing performance.

The PC Effect

Notably, Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth launched as a PlayStation 5 exclusive - a platform strategy that inherently limits sales potential compared to multi-platform releases. The picture changed dramatically in January 2025 when the game finally debuted on Steam, rocketing from No. 56 in December to No. 3 on Circana's January charts. Similarly, the Final Fantasy VII Remake & Rebirth Twin Pack soared from No. 265 to No. 16.

Circana analyst Mat Piscatella highlighted Rebirth's "fantastic" Steam launch on Bluesky, noting: "Across physical & tracked digital, Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth was the best-selling game of the week ending Jan 25th in the US market ($ sales), while the FFVII Remake & Rebirth Twin Pack ranked 3rd."

While these figures only reflect U.S. performance, similar international results could prompt Square Enix to reconsider its platform strategy for future Final Fantasy releases. When asked about the implications, Piscatella noted:

"For third-party publishers, it's looking harder and harder to release exclusively on a single platform without significant incentives provided by the platform holder."

The industry will need to wait until Square Enix's May earnings call for any official response.

January Sales Overview

Elsewhere in the charts, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 unsurprisingly maintained its monthly domination, followed by Madden NFL 25. January's sole new top-20 entry was Donkey Kong Country Returns on Nintendo Switch at No. 8 - with this ranking reflecting physical sales only, as Nintendo doesn't share digital sales data.

It Takes Two's return to the top 20 (at No. 20) proved noteworthy. Piscatella attributed this to sustained sales and promotional activity, including PlayStation Store and eShop campaigns late in January, noting that sales momentum actually began building in December - potentially due to anticipation for developer Hazelight Studios' upcoming Split Fiction, releasing in March.

Overall gaming spending showed a 15% year-over-year decline to $4.5 billion, though this partly reflects January 2024 having five tracking weeks compared to this year's four. Hardware spending proved particularly weak, down 45% overall, with PS5 (down 38%), Xbox Series (down 50%), and Switch (down 53%) all showing significant declines. Despite this, PS5 remained January's best-selling system in both dollars and units.