Titles that defined generations of gamers have made a comeback in recent weeks through ports and remakes. While the re-release of Call of Duty: Black Ops and the arrival of Halo: Campaign Evolved were warmly received by shooter enthusiasts, the Activision titles have sold 30 times more than their competitor on PlayStation despite having no upgrades.

Industry analysts had painted an optimistic picture for Xbox and Halo Studios, given that the release marked both the return of Master Chief’s original adventure and the franchise’s historic first landing on a Sony console. Yet, contrary to expectations, Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, dominated PlayStation’s July sales charts by an overwhelming margin.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Sales Demonstrate Halo’s PlayStation Misstep

The initial excitement surrounding Halo’s expansion to PS5 appears to have cooled quickly, as early commercial data has fallen short of projections. Although Halo: Campaign Evolved did manage to crack the best-sellers on PlayStation 5 for July, its performance pales in comparison to that of its rivals.

According to Rhys Elliott, an analyst at Alinea Analytics, Halo: Campaign Evolved sold an estimated 351,000 copies on PS5, a respectable figure by most standards, yet one that fails to capture the importance of Xbox’s flagship series. By contrast, the game moved nearly one million units on Microsoft consoles.

That gap becomes even more striking when stacked against Call of Duty: Black Ops and Black Ops 2. Despite offering no meaningful upgrades, the two Activision shooters collectively sold 11.3 million copies across PS5 and PS4, roughly 32 times Halo’s total on Sony platforms.

Breaking that down, the original Black Ops sold 3 million units, while its sequel shattered records with 8.2 million, making both titles the top two best-selling games on PlayStation for the month of July.

The results may come as a surprise to many, especially given that the Black Ops ports suffer from persistent cheater issues and lack any significant enhancements, whereas Halo: Campaign Evolved arrives as a polished remake with a complete graphical overhaul and fresh content.

This phenomenon is understood by the enormous popularity of Activision’s saga. In under a month, the Black Ops ports generated $435 million in revenue on PlayStation alone, a resounding success that benefited Sony and Microsoft without much effort.

“Basically zero marketing or ongoing development costs are eating into that check. That single month of catalogue CoD sales on a rival platform effectively funds a massive slice of Xbox’s quarterly first-party operational overhead. And the combined $435M is already nearly as much as Forza Horizon 6 has made via base game sales all year,” Elliott said.

Call of Duty Black Ops 2 PlayStation éxito ventas

These Were the Best-Selling PlayStation Games in July

Beyond the shooters, Ubisoft also enjoyed a strong July on PlayStation, with Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag Resynced securing third place at 1.6 million copies sold.

Sports titles continued their steady performance, led by EA Sports FC 26 (1.3 million) and EA Sports College Football 27 (1.1 million). Meanwhile, Grand Theft Auto V proved it still has staying power, moving another 846,000 units.

Even Minecraft and Palworld outperformed Halo: Campaign Evolved.

Below is the complete ranking of the best-selling titles on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 for July:

  • Call of Duty: Black Ops II — 8.2 million
  • Call of Duty: Black Ops — 3 million
  • Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag Resynced — 1.6 million
  • EA Sports FC 26 — 1.3 million
  • EA Sports College Football 27 — 1.1 million
  • Grand Theft Auto V — 846,000
  • Minecraft — 501,000
  • Palworld — 479,000
  • Halo: Campaign Evolved — 351,000

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