Two old Call of Duty ports outsold Halo: Campaign Evolved 32 to 1
Analyst estimates say Halo: Campaign Evolved sold about 351,000 copies on PS5 in July, while barebones Black Ops and Black Ops 2 ports moved 11.2 million combined.
Halo‘s first-ever PlayStation game got crushed by two Call of Duty ports that didn’t even bother with a graphical upgrade.
According to Alinea Analytics, Halo: Campaign Evolved sold roughly 351,000 copies on PS5 in July. Over the same stretch, the PS5 and PS4 ports of Call of Duty: Black Ops and Black Ops 2 sold about 11.2 million combined.
That’s the older, cheaper-to-make Call of Duty games outselling Microsoft’s flagship remake by nearly 32 to 1 on Sony’s console.
The Halo PS5 numbers, in context
The full picture is a little kinder to Halo, but not much.
Across all Sony platforms, Campaign Evolved reached about 452,000 copies since its July 28 launch, generating under $28 million. On the July PlayStation sales chart, it landed around ninth. It did far better on Xbox, moving close to a million units, and was a top-five game there.
So it’s not that nobody bought it. It’s that on PlayStation, where Halo has no history and no installed loyalty, it barely registered next to the competition.
Why the Call of Duty ports won
The analyst behind the numbers pointed straight at price.
Rhys Elliott, Alinea’s head of market analysis, put it bluntly: “$60 was WAY too much for this one.” Campaign Evolved is a visual remake of a 2001 game, and $60 for what he called a graphical touch-up was a rough sell.
The Call of Duty ports played it smarter. They’re barebones re-releases of Xbox 360-era games with no enhancements, but they launched with a limited-time PS Plus discount, and PlayStation players had never had another way to get them, since Sony never made the PS3 originals backward compatible.
Cheaper, and previously unavailable, beat pricier and remade. Elliott’s read: “CoD got it. Halo didn’t.”
What this means for Halo Studios
This lands at a brutal moment for the studio.
Just days ago, Halo Studios laid off staff barely a week after Campaign Evolved shipped, with former employees describing a troubled development. These sales estimates put a number on the disappointment, at least on PlayStation, where the debut was supposed to prove Halo could win over a new audience.
One caution on the figures: neither Sony nor Microsoft releases official per-game sales, so Alinea’s numbers are modeled estimates. Some industry watchers debate the firm’s methodology, and several note its figures land in the right ballpark while others have missed. Treat them as informed estimates, not confirmed sales.
Still, the direction is hard to argue with. Halo’s big crossover to PlayStation was meant to be a statement. The statement it made was that two decade-old shooters at the right price could bury it.
Article compiled and edited by Derek Gibbs (entertainment editor) and the Clownfish TV newsroom.
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Hat Tips:
GamesRadar (August 4, 2026), verified for Rhys Elliott’s “$60 was WAY too much” and “CoD got it. Halo didn’t” quotes, the PS Plus launch discount on the Call of Duty ports, and the 351,000 PS5 estimate
God is a Geek (August 4, 2026), verified for the August 4 publication of the estimates, the 452,000 total PlayStation figure, the under-$28 million revenue, the 11.2 million combined CoD sales, the Black Ops 2 breakdown, and the note that both firms don’t release official figures
Vice (August 4, 2026), verified for the roughly 32-to-1 ratio, the Xbox 360-era origins of the ports, and Elliott’s full pricing analysis
Push Square (August 4, 2026), verified for the debate over Alinea’s methodology, the Steam sales estimate, and the ports outselling every other PS5 game on the chart combined
GamingBolt (August 6, 2026), verified for Halo’s ninth-place July ranking on PlayStation and the Black Ops 1 and 2 individual figures