Amid blowback and protests for PlayStation’s recent decision to stop making physical game discs starting in 2028, a massive digital-only PlayStation exclusive release dropped. And it appears many PlayStation fans on PS4 and PS5 did not get the memo because almost instantly the release sold at least five million digital copies. And if that wasn’t bad enough, another PlayStation exclusive release dropped at the same time, and it instantly sold at least two million copies.
On August 9, Activision and Xbox, with the help of port studio Iron Galaxy, released both Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 on PS4 and PS5 only. And the reason the releases were PS4 and PS5 only is because the games are already playable on Xbox One and Xbox Series X via backward compatibility. Unfortunately, these versions are completely busted thanks to hackers and glitchers. To this end, this is essentially a console-exclusive release for PlayStation, from Xbox. And PlayStation fans are excited to revisit two landmark releases in the COD series. And we know this because, according to Sony’s PS5 weekly player count beta feature, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 had 5.25 million weekly players on PS5 in the United States alone. The first Black Ops had 1.96 million in the United States. Who knows what the total number of copies sold is when you factor in Europe and more. What is clear is that these two games combined are selling like crazy.
PS5 Disc Protest Fails First Challenge
Of course, two of some of the all-time best multiplayer games are going to sell very well on PS4 and PS5, even if the release is digital only. That said, some wondered if the ongoing PS5 disc protest from PlayStation fans would provide a meaningful hindrance, and it appears it has not. To put this number into context, this would mean about 15 to 20% of PS5 users in the United States purchased a simple port of Black Ops 2, a 14-year-old COD game fresh on the back of PlayStation’s biggest controversy since the great PSN outage of 2011.
Unfortunately, for those on PlayStation hoping to send a message, this isn’t even the biggest hurdle in 2026. When these two Call of Duty games suprise released on PS4 and PS5 last week, they crashed the PlayStation Store. So, what the heck is something like GTA 6 going to do when it releases on PS5 this November? Suffice it to say, it’s an uphill battle for any PlayStation fan hopeful to send any message to Sony about its decision to cut out physical game players.
All of that said, and as always, feel free to leave a comment or two letting us know what you think, or join the video game conversations over on the ComicBook Forum.
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