PlayStation’s July sales charts were not dominated by a new release, but by straightforward ports of Call of Duty: Black Ops and Black Ops 2. The two classics reportedly sold more than 11 million copies in 27 days and generated an estimated $435 million in combined revenue.

PlayStation publishes rankings of its best-selling games every month, and those lists usually contain at least one surprise. It is far less common, however, for the PS5 and PS4 charts to be led by two games originally released more than a decade earlier.

Neither a recent blockbuster nor the Halo remake, which launched with modest numbers on PlayStation 5, managed to claim the top positions in July. Instead, the leading spots belonged to the modern PlayStation ports of Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2.

The Two Older Black Ops Games May Have Generated $435 Million in 27 Days

Both games were released for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on July 9. The ports preserve the original campaigns, multiplayer modes, and Zombies content, meaning Activision did not release remakes or extensive remasters, but direct 1080p versions of the original games.

According to estimates from Alinea Analytics, Black Ops 2 sold 8.2 million copies on PlayStation. More than 90% of those purchases were made on PS5, and the game reportedly generated approximately $325 million.

The original Call of Duty: Black Ops sold another 3 million copies, with the PS5 edition accounting for 94% of the total. That port may have produced more than $110 million, bringing the combined revenue of both games to an estimated $435 million in only 27 days.

That performance substantially exceeds the PlayStation sales of Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced, which reportedly sold 1.6 million copies. The success is particularly striking because neither Black Ops title received a visually ambitious remake, and Digital Foundry criticized the releases for being relatively basic direct ports.

Years of accumulated demand help explain the result because the original versions were not backward compatible with modern PlayStation consoles. The standard price of €40, along with a discounted €20 option for PlayStation Plus subscribers, also made the two classics more attractive.

Analyst Rhys Elliott estimates that Sony may have earned approximately $130 million from the PlayStation Store’s 30% commission, while the remaining revenue went toward Xbox and Activision. The combined $435 million is roughly equal to everything Forza Horizon 6 has generated through sales so far and may ultimately exceed the revenue produced by Black Ops 7.

Source: 3DJuegos