Halo and Black Ops sales on PS5 are shocking for very different reasons

Master Chief in key art for Halo: Campaign Evolved
Halo: Campaign Evolved – not a major hit on PlayStation (Xbox Game Studios)

Ports of Call Of Duty: Black Ops 1 and 2 have sold millions according to the latest estimates, but Halo: Campaign Evolved hasn’t been so lucky.

The month of July was dominated by remakes and ports, between Call Of Duty: Black Ops, Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced, and Halo: Campaign Evolved

However, some of these have fared better than others. We already know Black Flag Resynced has surpassed Ubisoft’s expectations, selling 3.5 million copies in two weeks. The ports of Call Of Duty: Black Ops 1 and 2, meanwhile, have topped the best sellers list on the PlayStation Store worldwide. 

These success stories have been supported by new PlayStation sales estimates by Alinea Analytics, although it’s not such good news for Halo: Campaign Evolved. 

According to the analytics firm, the ports for Black Ops 1 and 2 sold 3 million and 8.2 million, respectively, across PlayStation consoles in July. 

For context, 2012’s Black Ops 2 sold 7.5 million copies within its launch month in the US, so it’s crazy to see it replicating similar numbers if these estimates are accurate – especially as these are such low effort ports, with barely any improvements. 

Expert, exclusive gaming analysis

Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning.

This will likely encourage Microsoft to release more Call Of Duty ports on Sony’s console, although the nostalgia around Black Ops seems to be why these have done so well. So it might also lead to a proper remaster or remake for both games. 

According to these estimates, Black Flag Resynced sold 1.7 million on PlayStation 5, making it the third best-selling game on the system in July. Although this figure might be slightly off in comparison to Ubisoft’s 3.5 million figure across all platforms. 

At the other end of the spectrum, Halo: Campaign Evolved is behind the likes of Minecraft, Palworld, and GTA 5. Based on Alinea estimates, the remake sold just 351,000 copies on PlayStation 5 in July and 452,000 copies on the console to date. 

For a platform comparison, the firm claims Halo: Campaign Evolved sold 212,000 copies on Steam and ‘around’ 900,000 copies on Xbox (across console and PC). 

It’s not as if Xbox games on PlayStation 5 can’t do well, as Forza Horizon 5 has sold over 5 million copies so far. A port of Forza Horizon 6 is supposed to be coming out this year but Microsoft hasn’t mentioned it in months, to the point where some fans have wondered if it’s been cancelled.

It’s important to note Halo: Campaign Evolved launched at the end of the month on July 28, but even so, it’s a lacklustre showing for Master Chief’s debut on PlayStation. 

We will likely get a better picture of Halo: Campaign Evolved’s sales in the coming weeks, but all signs suggest it hasn’t done well. On Steam (via SteamDB), the title has achieved an all-time concurrent player peak of just 25,376. According to Circana’s player engagement tracker, only 1% of the total PlayStation 5 install base booted it up on launch day. 

These metrics aren’t foolproof, but Halo clearly isn’t taking off like Forza Horizon 5 on Sony’s console – which might be indicative of Halo’s position as a franchise in 2026, and the lack of competitive multiplayer in Halo: Campaign Evolved specifically. 

It remains to be seen if this means future Halo games will become an Xbox exclusive again, like Gears Of War: E-Day, but it isn’t a promising start for the series’ future on PlayStation. 

Key art for Call Of Duty: Black Ops 2
Black Ops 2 is still the king (Activision)

Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter.

To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here.

For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.

(Visited 1 times, 1 visits today)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *