{"id":1131959,"date":"2026-08-05T13:50:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T13:50:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1131959\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T13:50:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T13:50:19","slug":"halos-no-match-for-activisions-barebones-digital-only-black-ops-ps5-ports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1131959\/","title":{"rendered":"Halo’s No Match for Activision’s Barebones Digital-Only Black Ops PS5 Ports"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Halo<\/a> Image: Push Square<\/p>\n

Activision\u2019s digital-only Call of Duty: Black Ops<\/a> ports dominated the PS5 in July, according to estimates from analytics firm Alinea<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The sales tracker claims that the two PS3 games \u2013 rereleased on modern hardware with no improvements \u2013 sold a combined 11.2 million copies on the PS Store<\/strong><\/a>, more than every other game on its chart combined.<\/p>\n

The sequel, Black Ops 2<\/a>, sold best \u2013 accounting for 8.2 million sales.<\/p>\n

While we criticised these barebones ports in our reviews<\/a>, they shot straight to the top of the PS Store charts upon launch, and apparently had more players on PS5 than latest game Black Ops 7<\/a> across all platforms combined.<\/p>\n

The biggest surprise for parent company Microsoft may be seeing these ports handily outsell its remake Halo: Campaign Evolved<\/a>, which is estimated to have sold 351k in July (rising to 452k at the present).<\/p>\n

While that number may seem low, Alinea predicts the game did even worse on Steam, where it\u2019s predicted to have sold just 212k copies. This number excludes Xbox on PC, however.<\/p>\n

I asked analyst Rhys Elliot for clarification of his company\u2019s 900k prediction for the game on Xbox, and he told me this number<\/a> accounts for \u201csold through plus the Game Pass<\/strong><\/a> early access upsell\u201d.<\/p>\n

Here’s our PlayStation copies sold ranking for July (@alineaanalytics<\/a> estimates).<\/p>\n

Beyond the CoD doing ports doing GANGBUSTERS, the thing that stands out is Halo’s notably slow start on PlayStation, which ironically stings even more next to the success of two effort-light CoD\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/5OgKfyiNra<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Rhys Elliott (@superhys) August 4, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This implies to me it\u2019s excluding people who played the game purely as part of their subscription, so the total number of players should be much higher on Xbox overall.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a little surprised at the estimated discrepancy between PlayStation and Xbox here considering the novelty of this release and the install base difference, although I suppose it makes sense that Master Chief\u2019s fanbase would mostly exist on Microsoft\u2019s own machine.<\/p>\n

The rest of the estimates are largely unremarkable; we know, for example, AC Black Flag Resynced<\/a> has done really well<\/a>, so it\u2019s no surprise to see it pick up a ton of sales on the PS5.<\/p>\n

The release of Palworld v1.0<\/a> also appears to have given the game a good bump across all platforms, and so that\u2019s reflected in these predictions.<\/p>\n

It should be noted that there\u2019s still debate over the methodology of Alinea, and how accurate its numbers actually are.<\/p>\n

Several industry insiders claim its figures are in the right ballpark, but some of its other predictions have been proven to be pretty inaccurate.<\/p>\n

As always, consider this data an estimate until more reliable information emerges.<\/p>\n

[source x.com<\/a>]<\/p>\n

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\"Sammy<\/p>\n

As the Editor of Push Square, Sammy has over 15 years of experience analysing the world of PlayStation, from PS3 through PS5 and everything in between. He\u2019s an expert on PS Studios and industry matters, as well as sports games and simulators. He also enjoys RPGs when he has the time to dedicate to them, and is a bit of a gacha whale.<\/p>\n