The US video game market experienced a significant downturn in January 2025, with overall consumer spending dropping 15% year-over-year to $4.5 billion. This decline, however, was partly influenced by the fact that Circana’s tracking period for January 2025 was a week shorter than the five-week span of January 2024. Even with this consideration, spending across multiple segments struggled to maintain last year’s levels.
Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth Climbs the Charts Following Steam Launch
One of the biggest shifts in the gaming charts came from Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth, which surged to the No.3 position following its Steam debut. This resurgence came after Square Enix had previously stated that the game’s initial release in February 2024 underperformed compared to expectations.
Additionally, the Final Fantasy 7 Remake & Rebirth Twin Pack saw a dramatic rise, catapulting from a distant No.265 to No.16 in the top 20 rankings. The Steam release provided a crucial boost to the game’s overall performance, drawing in players who may have waited for its PC availability.
Top Performers and New Entrants
Despite these shake-ups, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 continued to dominate as the best-selling game for January, holding its No.1 ranking on PlayStation’s individual chart and securing the second position on Xbox Series X|S. Meanwhile, Madden NFL 25 retained its No.2 position.
The only major new release of the month, Donkey Kong Country Returns, debuted at No.8 in the overall rankings. It performed exceptionally well on the Nintendo Switch, taking the top spot on the platform’s individual sales chart.
Mobile Gaming Landscape
In the mobile gaming sector, Monopoly Go led the charts, followed closely by Roblox and Candy Crush Saga. Pokémon TCG Pocket saw a slight dip, dropping three positions, but still managed to achieve its second-highest revenue week in late January after a significant update.
An interesting new entrant in the mobile gaming space was ReelShort – Short Movie & TV, which made its way into the top ten. The app, a hybrid between streaming content and interactive story games, saw a sharp rise in popularity over the past two years, highlighting the growing trend of entertainment and gaming convergence.
Declining Spending in Key Areas
Content spending in the video game industry fell by 12% year-over-year, despite some areas showing resilience. Subscription services that exclude mobile platforms saw a 13% increase, and mobile gaming spending grew by 2%. However, these gains were insufficient to counterbalance the overall downturn in content-related expenditures.
Hardware sales suffered the most significant decline, plummeting 45% from the previous year to $205 million, marking the lowest January total since 2020, when sales hit $131 million. All major platforms saw steep drops: PlayStation 5 sales fell by 38%, Xbox Series X|S by 50%, and Nintendo Switch by 53%.
While game sales showed some bright spots with Steam-fueled surges and continued strength from major franchises, the overall picture reflected a weaker start to the year. With declining hardware sales and shifts in consumer spending habits, the industry will be looking toward upcoming releases and potential hardware refreshes to reinvigorate growth in the coming months.