Halo: Campaign Evolved, a remake of Halo: Combat Evolved, marked the franchise's first appearance on PlayStation after decades of Xbox exclusivity. According to estimates from analytics firm Alinea Analytics, the game sold around 351,000 copies on PlayStation in July, along with roughly 212,000 on Steam and about 900,000 on Xbox (console and PC combined). For comparison, Halo 3 sold 14.5 million copies on a single console.
Meanwhile, Call of Duty: Black Ops and Black Ops 2, ported to PlayStation 4 and PS5 by Iron Galaxy without updates or changes from their original 2010 and 2012 versions, vastly outperformed the Halo remake. Alinea Analytics estimates Black Ops sold 3 million copies and Black Ops 2 sold 8.2 million, a combined 11 million units generating an estimated $435 million at $39.99 each (or $19.99 for PlayStation Plus subscribers). Both games had previously been available only on PS3 among PlayStation consoles.
Per Polygon, Halo: Campaign Evolved was outpaced on PlayStation sales charts by titles including Palworld, Minecraft, Grand Theft Auto 5, several EA Sports games, and Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Rescynced. GamesRadar+ reports that Campaign Evolved ranked just 29th among PS5 games in the US at launch, despite being the 4th most popular game on Xbox at launch.
Alinea Analytics' head of market analysis, Rhys Elliott, attributed the Call of Duty ports' success to pricing and timing, noting that a beloved older game released at the right price can outperform newer titles. He pointed out that the Call of Duty ports launched with a significant limited-time discount for PlayStation Plus subscribers, while Halo: Campaign Evolved cost sixty dollars for what he called 'essentially a graphical touch-up of a 2001 game.' Elliott said this price point was 'always gonna be a rough sell' to players.
Polygon noted that Campaign Evolved received favorable reviews for its new missions and updates, but this did not translate into strong PlayStation sales, and suggested the absence of PvP multiplayer may have contributed to the tepid reception. Both outlets pointed to the results as reflecting continued strong demand for Call of Duty's multiplayer offerings compared to Halo's diminished pull with players, a shift Polygon linked to the series' trajectory after Bungie's split from Microsoft following Halo: Reach.