Call of Duty: Black Ops 1 and 2 sold 11 million copies on PlayStation in under a month

The details:

• According to industry analyst Rhys Elliott of Alinea Analytics, Black Ops 2 sold 8.2 million copies on PlayStation (93% on PS5, 7% on PS4) for approximately $325 million, while Black Ops 1 sold 3 million copies (94% on PS5) for approximately $110 million. The combined $435 million figure is described as "nearly as much as Forza Horizon 6 has made via base game sales all year."
• The ports were developed by Iron Galaxy and described by Elliott as "straight 1080p ports," with technical analysis confirming barely any noticeable visual or performance improvements over the originals. Both games were available to PS Plus subscribers for $20 until August 6.
• The driver behind the numbers was pent-up demand. Black Ops 1 and 2 were never made available via backwards compatibility on PS4 or PS5, meaning a PS3 was previously the only way to play them on PlayStation. Sony earns roughly 30% of all sales through its storefront, which Elliott calculates at around $130 million "for doing basically nothing."
• Elliott frames the success as proof that Microsoft will not make Call of Duty exclusive to Xbox. "There is simply too much money to be made by having Call of Duty on PlayStation," he said. He also noted that the performance of the ports suggests a proper Black Ops reboot "would do absolute gangbusters." Activision also released $30 DLC map bundles for both games alongside the launch.
• The next new Call of Duty is Modern Warfare 4, arriving this October, with a multiplayer beta going live later this month.

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