For the first time ever, a Halo game is available on PlayStation with Halo: Campaign Evolved. The game is having a “notably slow start” on Sony’s console in terms of sales, however, according to gaming analyst Rhys Elliott.
He estimated that Campaign Evolved sold 351,000 copies on PS5 during July and 452,000 to date, generating nearly $28 million. By comparison, Elliott said Campaign Evolved has shifted 212,000 units on Steam and about 900,000 on Xbox across console and PC thus far.
The analyst said the game’s price point–$50–was partly to blame. “Fifty dollars for what’s essentially a graphical touch-up of a 2001 game was always going to be a hard sell, and players clearly weren’t having it,” he said.
Beyond graphical improvements, Campaign Evolved also features three new prequel missions via the Operation Meteorite story arc. Multiplayer is what Halo is perhaps best known for, but Campaign Evolved–as its name suggests–does not feature multiplayer support.
Also in his comments, Elliott said the slow start for Halo on PS5 “stings even more” when compared to the success of the Black Ops 1 and 2 ports on PlayStation. Those games reportedly combined to sell more than 11 million units, generating hundreds of millions of dollars.
Elliott went on to lament the slowing sales and diminishing profile of Halo as a franchise in general after the series peaked with Halo 3 and Halo: Reach years ago.
“One can’t help wondering what could have been if Halo had kept the trajectory it had around Halo 3 and Reach. A remake of the game that started it all landing this softly on a new platform makes me pretty sad, as a Halo fan,” he wrote.
There are more Halo games in development, including one that’s been described as “like Fortnite” with regards to its live-service approach. Developer Halo Studios has said future Halo games will also be on PlayStation, but those comments came before Asha Sharma became Xbox CEO and pledged to release more exclusive games for Xbox.
