Call of Duty: Black Ops II, released in 2012, is on course to be one of 2026’s best-selling games, according to analyst estimates of the game’s recent PlayStation port.
Activision shadow-dropped ports of Black Ops 1 and Black Ops II on PS4 and PS5 on July 9, developed by Iron Galaxy and carrying campaign, multiplayer and Zombies. Alinea Analytics estimates that Black Ops II sold 8.2 million copies on the two platforms in its first month and Black Ops 1 sold 3 million, IGN reports — a combined 11.2 million copies.
Industry analyst Rhys Elliott put the revenue at roughly $435 million across the two games, telling GameSpot that Black Ops II accounted for about $325 million and Black Ops 1 about $110 million, with the overwhelming majority of sales on PS5 rather than PS4.
Ports, not remasters
Neither release was rebuilt. GameSpot describes them as "straight 1080p ports" with barely any noticeable technical improvements, which Elliott argues was the point: the demand was for the original experience running on current hardware. Before the ports, the only way to play either game on a PlayStation console was to keep a PS3, as neither was covered by backwards compatibility on PS4 or PS5.
IGN notes that Activision has historically avoided re-releasing older Call of Duty games, with fans speculating that back catalogue releases would pull players away from more lucrative current entries. The outlet reports the ports followed Black Ops 7 falling short of expectations last year.
Where the money lands
Elliott told GameSpot that Sony’s platform cut of roughly 30 percent works out to about $130 million, with no marketing or ongoing development costs against it. He characterised the release as "low effort, low risk, high reward catalogue mining," and argued the total is already close to what Forza Horizon 6 has made from base game sales across the whole year.
For context on scale, IGN reports Alinea’s earlier estimates put 2026’s three best-selling games at Mecha Chameleon on 12.6 million copies, EA’s FC 26 on 9.1 million and Resident Evil Requiem on 7.5 million, with Capcom subsequently confirming Requiem had passed 8 million units. On those figures Black Ops II sits inside the year’s top five.
The two ports were also the highest-selling PlayStation titles of July by Alinea’s count, ahead of Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced on 1.6 million. Activision has released $30 DLC map bundles for both games. The next new entry in the series, Modern Warfare 4, arrives in October.
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