Call Of Duty games from over a decade ago are proving more popular than the latest entry, as ports of Black Ops 1 and 2 top the PlayStation Store.
Ports of Call Of Duty: Black Ops 1 and 2 were released on PlayStation consoles last week, and despite complaints around the price and lack of DLC in the base game, they’re both selling very well.
Each game costs £34.99, but until August 6, PS Plus subscribers can get a 50% discount on both titles. Weirdly, this means both games are cheaper on PlayStation than Xbox at the moment, despite the fact that Microsoft owns Activision.
The popularity of these ports has been clear since they were announced, with engagement metrics on social media posts dwarfing the numbers seen for the next entry, Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 4. However, it seems this has also translated into sales.
According to sources at Call Of Duty fansite CharlieIntel, the Black Ops 1 and 2 ports on PlayStation 4 and 5 have more players online than Black Ops 7 does ‘combined on all platforms’.
The site hasn’t published any numbers, but considering Black Ops 7 is available across PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC, it’s a pretty impressive statistic, if it’s being superseded by old games from 16 years ago on two consoles.
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Both games are also at the top of the best sellers list on the PlayStation Store across various territories, including the UK, the US, France, Germany, and Italy. Black Ops 2 is proving to be the most popular of the two across all these storefronts.
On the UK store, both games are ahead of Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced, EA Sports FC 26, GTA 6, Fortnite, Roblox, and Marvel Rivals.
While it remains to be seen if these sales will hold in the coming weeks, their success might encourage Activision to release more ports of old Call Of Duty titles on PlayStation consoles.
You can currently play many classic Call Of Duty games on Xbox via backwards compatibility, but any prior to the PlayStation 4 era are not available on Sony’s current system (aside from multiformat remasters of the first two Modern Warfare titles).
This might present an awkward situation if old ports prove more popular than the modern entries. Black Ops 7 represented a notable downturn for the Call Of Duty franchise, both in quality and sales, but we’ll have to see if Modern Warfare 4 can turn things around.
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