After 'Failing to Meet Expectations' at Launch, Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth Shoots to No.3 in U.S. Charts With Steam Debut

January 2025 proved a relatively quiet month for the video game industry, mirroring the typical lull often seen at the start of the year. Only one new release cracked the top 20 sales charts, dominated as usual by Call of Duty. However, a potential comeback story emerged: Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth.

Initially released in February 2024, Rebirth debuted at number two on Circana's U.S. sales charts, but its performance later declined, finishing the year at number 17. This led to speculation about its commercial success, particularly in comparison to other major RPGs released that year, such as Dragon's Dogma 2. Square Enix confirmed the game fell short of their sales expectations, further fueling uncertainty.

The game's initial PS5 exclusivity was a likely contributing factor to its lower sales compared to multi-platform releases. However, January 2025 marked a significant turning point. With its release on Steam, Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth surged to number three on the Circana charts, a dramatic leap from its December ranking of 56. The Final Fantasy VII: Remake & Rebirth Twin Pack also saw a substantial rise, moving 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 U.S. market, based on dollar sales. The Twin Pack also ranked third for the same period. While these figures are U.S.-specific, they suggest a similar performance in other regions, potentially prompting Square Enix to reconsider their future release strategies. Piscatella commented on the impact of the Steam release, stating: "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." Square Enix's official response is anticipated at their next earnings call in May.

Elsewhere on the charts, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Madden NFL 25 maintained their top positions. The only new entry in the top 20 was Donkey Kong Country: Returns for Nintendo Switch, reaching number eight solely based on physical sales, as Nintendo does not publicly share digital sales data. It Takes Two also made a notable return to the top 20, at number 20, attributed to ongoing promotions and steady sales throughout the month, possibly linked to the upcoming release of Hazelight Studios' Split Fiction in March.

January 2025 saw a decrease in overall games spending compared to the previous year, likely due to a shorter tracking period (four weeks versus five). Overall spending was down 15% to $4.5 billion, with accessories, content, and hardware spending also experiencing significant year-over-year declines. Despite the overall downturn, PS5 remained the best-selling hardware platform.

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.