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

$3.2M–$8.5M after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

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

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

288k to 468k copies, based on its 5k Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 288k–468k; $3.2M–$8.5M after Steam's cut $5.8M–$13.1M before the cut; from 5k reviews (Very Positive)

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

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 5.9M–13.5M

best case 87.5M (Left 4 Dead 2)

Games like Call of Duty®: Black Ops

The middle of these games

≈ 5.9M–13.5M copies

≈ $79.9M–$92.3M after Steam's cut

from ~202k 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. A breakout hit, far above a typical game.

The genre you'd be entering

Your set: Your set clusters on FPS (8 of 8) and Shooter (6 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Zombies + Co-op, priced around $10. The breakout hits carry Co-op + Online Co-Op + Survival; a typical game here doesn't.
The era: The games you compared span 2004 to 2020, and none of them 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
Call of Duty®: Black Ops III 2015	Est. copies ≈ 11.4M–18.4M SteamSpy 5M–10M	Est. revenue $187.3M–$503.5M after Steam's cut $340.5M–$774.7M before the cut	$59.99	233k reviews Very Positive	MultiplayerZombies
Half-Life: Alyx 2020	Est. copies ≈ 2.6M–4.2M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $43.0M–$115.5M after Steam's cut $78.1M–$177.7M before the cut	$59.99	105k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	VRFPS
Left 4 Dead 2 2009	Est. copies ≈ 66.7M–108.4M 5.2x 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
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
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
Z1 Battle Royale 2018	Est. copies ≈ 6.2M–10.0M SteamSpy 10M–20M	Est. revenue Free	Free	202k reviews Mixed	SurvivalMassively Multiplayer
Killing Floor 2 2016	Est. copies ≈ 5.4M–8.7M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $44.4M–$119.3M after Steam's cut $80.6M–$183.5M before the cut	$29.99	129k reviews Very Positive	ZombiesMultiplayer
Black Mesa 2020	Est. copies ≈ 3.6M–5.8M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $19.7M–$53.0M after Steam's cut $35.8M–$81.5M before the cut	$19.99	145k reviews Very Positive	FPSRemake