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 video game releases, mirroring the typical lull often seen at the start of the year. Only one new title cracked the top 20 sales charts, and Call of Duty once again dominated. However, a surprising comeback story emerged: Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth.

Initially released in February 2024, Rebirth debuted at number two on Circana's US sales charts but subsequently slipped to number seven and then seventeen by year's end. While respectable, these figures reportedly fell short of Square Enix's expectations, prompting speculation about the game's performance compared to other major RPGs of 2024, such as Dragon's Dogma 2 and its predecessor, Final Fantasy VII: Remake. Square Enix itself acknowledged the game's failure to meet sales targets, notably refraining from announcing specific sales figures.

The game's initial PS5 exclusivity likely hampered its sales potential compared to cross-platform releases. However, January 2025 marked a turning point. Rebirth's launch on Steam propelled it to number three on the Circana charts, a significant jump from its December position at number fifty-six. The Final Fantasy VII: Remake & Rebirth Twin Pack also saw a dramatic rise, moving from number 265 to number sixteen thanks to the Steam release.

This success wasn't confined to the US. Circana analyst Mat Piscatella highlighted Rebirth's "fantastic" Steam launch, noting it was the best-selling game for the week ending January 25th in the US market (based on dollar sales), with the Twin Pack ranking third. This success suggests similar strong performance internationally. This resurgence invites speculation about Square Enix potentially adjusting its future release strategies for the Final Fantasy franchise to include cross-platform launches. Piscatella commented on this possibility: "I mean it's hard for me to say what impact the Steam release has on publisher perception of overall title success…But 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 broader January sales charts saw Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Madden NFL 25 maintaining their top positions. The only new entry in the top 20 was Donkey Kong Country: Returns on Nintendo Switch, reaching number eight solely on physical sales (Nintendo doesn't provide digital sales data). It Takes Two also reappeared at number twenty, a resurgence attributed to ongoing promotions and steady sales throughout the month, potentially linked to the upcoming release of Hazelight Studios' Split Fiction in March.

Despite the success of some titles, overall game spending for January 2025 was down 15% year-over-year to $4.5 billion, partly due to a shorter tracking period (four weeks compared to five in 2024). Accessories spending dropped 28%, content spending fell 12% (with console content down 35%), and hardware spending plummeted 45%. PS5 remained the best-selling hardware, followed by Xbox Series in spending and Switch in unit sales.

The top 20 best-selling games in the US for January 2025 (based on dollar sales) were:

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

*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.