WE DO NOT KNOW (*with our collective shrug*). Unfortunately, this story will not answer that question, no matter how interesting it is to answer the hypothetical question.  Ideally, we should know the actual numbers in the airsoft market if taken as an industry just like video games (which as of 2010, is already a US$25 Billion Industry according to ESA). However no market analysts and even airsoft publication tracks the industry to come up with a fair estimate and the closest thing to we have as airsoft statistics, which is  Popular Airsoft's Global Airsoft Survey Project does not even have this estimate on how large the airsoft industry is.

Indeed it would be interesting to note about the annual turnover of the  airsoft industry globally since we can then follow the growth of industry to find out if it's highs and lows. We may be claiming that airsoft is growing leaps and bounds but if the sales receipts of sellers and manufacturers say otherwise, then there's something wrong.

If we get to know those numbers, then we might get to answer the question posed here. Again, it is interesting to note if we quantify all the ammo, guns, gear, and players  in airsoft and translate these into costs of real warfare?  To make things clearer, here is a simple question: if all the BBs fired all over the world in one year are compared to 5.56mm bullets, how much would have airsoft expended in real bullet prices and tonnage? If all the M4 AEGs and GBBs bought in 2012 were priced the same as a real M4, how much would airsoft players have spent?

All hypothetical questions but it would be lovely to know the numbers since numbers are fun, as long as someone else does the counting for us. But we really don't have numbers from the airsoft industry to play with, which is just unfortunate.

So for entertainment purposes, here's a video called "How Much Would Call of Duty Cost in Real Life?" which shows the numbers of COD Black Ops 2 and translated into real life. This video actually made me ask the same question for airsoft, but with the absence of numbers, then it would be an exercise in futility.  We better like to know how COD Blacks Ops 2 costs in IRL for now, don't we?