Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 ranks 9th in PS5 popularity list in the US

• In the same list cited by IGN, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 and Call of Duty: Warzone reportedly rank lower.
• Activision released PS5 versions of the first two Black Ops games earlier this summer, which may explain the renewed attention for Black Ops 2.

What happened

IGN says PlayStation has added a new country-specific view that lets players see which games are most popular in their country. In the US PS5 ranking cited by IGN, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 is in 9th place. That stands out because it is an older Call of Duty title that, according to the article, finishes above several more recent releases in the same franchise.

According to the same article, Black Ops 2 ranks higher than Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 and Call of Duty: Warzone. The Call of Duty HQ app, which houses Black Ops 6, Black Ops 7 and Warzone, is not shown in that list. IGN specifically notes that the ranking is a snapshot of the new PlayStation view and that the exact measurement method is not explained.

IGN links the surprising placement to the fact that Activision released PS5 versions of the first two Black Ops games earlier this summer. The article does not give an exact release date for those ports, but places them in the same summer period as the popularity list. That suggests renewed attention for the older Black Ops titles, although it remains unclear whether the ranking reflects downloads, active players or another statistic.

The article also makes clear that the list is country-specific. The ranking cited by IGN is therefore about the United States, not a global PlayStation chart. Because PlayStation does not explain the method in the article, it is still unclear whether Black Ops 2’s position is based on activity, sales, downloads or another internal metric.

Background

The list described by IGN appears to be a snapshot of PlayStation’s new country-specific popularity view. As a result, it is not clear whether the ranking is based on active players, downloads, revenue or another metric. The article does note that the view differs by country, but gives no technical explanation of the underlying data.

Because the Call of Duty HQ app is not visible in the cited list, it is also unclear whether that title is truly absent or whether the article only shows part of the ranking. IGN notes that Black Ops 6, Black Ops 7 and Warzone fall under Call of Duty HQ, which makes the comparison with Black Ops 2 even more notable.

The timing of the PS5 versions of the first two Black Ops games matters, since IGN places that release earlier this summer. The article does not mention an exact date, but uses the release as a possible explanation for the attention around Black Ops 2. That leaves open the question of whether the high ranking is mainly driven by nostalgia, re-releases or another factor that PlayStation does not make public.

It is also important that the list is specifically about the United States, according to IGN. A 9th-place finish in one country says nothing about the game’s position in other regions, and the article does not provide an international comparison. The source also does not say how many games are in the list, so the context of the 9th place is limited to the ranking shown by IGN.

Related GAME-scanner articles

• Treyarch wraps up Black Ops 7 and looks ahead to a new Call of Duty project

Sources

• IGN: Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 appears to be much more popular than Black Ops 7 and Warzone on PS5