How much revenue did Call of Duty®: Black Ops III make?

$5.1M–$13.7M after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did Call of Duty®: Black Ops III sell?

Q: How many copies did Call of Duty®: Black Ops III sell?

309k to 502k copies, based on its 6k Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 309k–502k; $5.1M–$13.7M after Steam's cut $9.3M–$21.1M before the cut; from 6k reviews (Mostly Negative)

A labeled estimate from the public review count (adjusted for release year), not exact sales. Owner data cross-checked with SteamSpy.

Does this actually work?

We left Call of Duty®: Black Ops III out and predicted the genre from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Call of Duty®: Black Ops III's, is estimated from Steam reviews, not self-reported sales.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 17.3M–33.8M

best case 87.5M (Left 4 Dead 2)

Games like Call of Duty®: Black Ops III

The middle of these games

≈ 17.3M–33.8M copies

≈ $91.2M–$321.9M after Steam's cut

from ~481k reviews

Only the top fifth of 2019’s Steam releases earned about $34k gross, so plan for that or less.

All 8 of your similar games are hits.

Best case: Left 4 Dead 2 at ≈ 66.7M–108.4M copies, ≈ $183.2M–$492.6M after Steam's cut.

The genre you'd be entering

Your set: Your set clusters on Survival (5 of 8) and Zombies (5 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Zombies + Co-op, priced around $10.
The era: The games you compared span 2004 to 2024, and 1 of your 8 shipped in the last two years.

How these numbers were worked out

A hit here: 1,000+ reviews, roughly $150k+ before Steam's cut (a standard indie benchmark).

Copies come from each game's reviews times a sales-per-review rate that falls with release age, from about 31 for the most recent game here to about 79 for the oldest, then widened into a range; revenue rides on that estimate times price. Source: GameDiscoverCo (2020) and VG Insights (2021).

Similar games

Game	Est. copies	Est. revenue	Price	Reviews	Tags
Unturned 2017	Est. copies ≈ 19.4M–31.6M SteamSpy 50M–100M	Est. revenue Free	Free	565k reviews Very Positive	Free to PlaySurvival
DOOM 2016	Est. copies ≈ 9.2M–15.0M SteamSpy 5M–10M	Est. revenue $50.6M–$136.0M after Steam's cut $92.0M–$209.3M before the cut	$19.99	221k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	FPSGore
7 Days to Die 2024	Est. copies ≈ 9.9M–16.1M SteamSpy 10M–20M	Est. revenue $122.7M–$330.0M after Steam's cut $223.1M–$507.7M before the cut	$44.99	400k reviews Very Positive	SurvivalZombies
DayZ 2018	Est. copies ≈ 14.2M–23.1M SteamSpy 10M–20M	Est. revenue $195.8M–$526.4M after Steam's cut $356.0M–$809.9M before the cut	$49.99	469k reviews Mostly Positive	SurvivalOpen World
Half-Life 2 2004	Est. copies ≈ 17.6M–28.6M SteamSpy 10M–20M	Est. revenue $48.3M–$130.0M after Steam's cut $87.9M–$200.0M before the cut	$9.99	278k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	FPSAction
Dying Light 2015	Est. copies ≈ 24.1M–39.2M SteamSpy 10M–20M	Est. revenue $165.8M–$445.8M after Steam's cut $301.5M–$685.8M before the cut	$24.99	494k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	ZombiesSurvival Horror
Wallpaper Engine 2018	Est. copies ≈ 30.8M–50.0M 2.1x vs typical SteamSpy 20M–50M	Est. revenue $42.2M–$113.5M after Steam's cut $76.8M–$174.6M before the cut	$4.99	1.0M reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	MatureUtilities
Left 4 Dead 2 2009	Est. copies ≈ 66.7M–108.4M 2.2x vs typical SteamSpy 50M–100M	Est. revenue $183.2M–$492.6M after Steam's cut $333.1M–$757.9M before the cut	$9.99	1.1M reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	ZombiesCo-op