Nine user reviews. Zero concurrent players. The number five best-selling product on all of Steam.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7’s BlackCell Season 03 pass launched April 2 at $29.99 and immediately climbed into the upper ranks of Steam’s Top Sellers chart — ranked by revenue, not units — sitting ahead of standalone games that offer complete experiences for similar or lower prices. The base game, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, retails at $69.99.

BlackCell is a premium tier stacked on top of a battle pass layered on top of either a $70 game or the free-to-play Warzone client. For $29.99, buyers get full Battle Pass access, 1,100 COD Points (roughly a $10 value), an exclusive Operator skin with variants, a mastercraft weapon blueprint with tracers and death effects, a finishing move, and a new weapon camo challenge track, according to Activision’s official blog. None of it is pay-to-win, though it does include a 10% XP Loyalty Boost and bonus daily challenges alongside the cosmetic offerings.

And it’s out-earning full games.

The player reviews are self-aware, sometimes uncomfortably so. One reads, simply: “your pay pig has arrived activision.” Another offers a measured 7.5 out of 10, with the caveat that it’s only worth buying if you play enough to justify the cost. Nine reviews, all positive.

This isn’t a new phenomenon. Forbes noted that BlackCell hit number three on Steam’s Top Sellers when it debuted in April 2023 during Modern Warfare II’s Season 03. The price hasn’t changed in three years. The chart position has barely moved.

The business model works because it targets a specific slice of the player base: the ones who treat cosmetics as content. At $30 a season, recurring across a loyal audience of millions, BlackCell generates revenue that scales in ways no single-player release can match.

Crimson Desert, priced at $69.99, ranks among the top sellers. Counter-Strike 2, free to play, holds its usual spot. And right there among them — a battle pass add-on with no standalone product, no players of its own, and nine reviews — is a $30 skin package, punching well above its weight.

Sources