Activision faces criticism for low-effort Black Ops PS5 ports

Activision faces criticism for low-effort Black Ops PS5 ports

Activision has released ports of Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, but the releases have drawn sharp criticism from technical experts over poor performance and high pricing. The games, which originally launched on PlayStation 3, had remained locked to that platform for PlayStation users until the July 2026 launch window.

Technical analysis from Digital Foundry reveals that the port of the 2010 original runs at 1080p rather than 4K, despite the title being 16 years old. The analysis further notes a total lack of anti-aliasing and a frame rate limited to 60Hz on PS5 hardware.

"A 1080p60 presentation would be potentially acceptable for the PS4 version - and there is one! - but for a brand new PS5 conversion, it's disappointingly poor and well below what the hardware is capable of,"

Digital Foundry, via IGN

Experts also pointed out that original visual flaws, such as poor shadow quality, were kept in the new versions. Digital Foundry described the situation as a deeply odd state of affairs for a native PS5 title.

The lack of technical ambition was confirmed by Activision in a statement to Eurogamer. A company representative verified that the versions for PS4 and PS5 are strictly ports and not remasters. This means the games have not been altered or visually upgraded from the original PS3 iterations. Consequently, players will not find improved textures or higher frame rates beyond what the hardware's backward compatibility layer provides.

Industry observers noted that this outcome was signaled early on. Both Activision and Treyarch used the term ported during initial announcements. Furthermore, because these titles are already forward compatible on PC and Xbox, those platforms are not receiving new versions.

Despite the technical shortcomings, the PlayStation ports offer a resolution increase over the Xbox experience. On Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S, the games run via backwards compatibility at the original Xbox 360 resolution of 608p with no enhancements.

The pricing strategy has also caused friction. Each game is priced at $40, with separate season passes costing $29.99 each. For a player seeking the complete experience of both Black Ops 1 and 2 including all DLC, the total cost reaches $140.

However, PlayStation Plus subscribers can access a discount that reduces the price of each game to $20 and each season pass to $9, bringing the total for all content down to $58. This specific discount is available until August 6.

The re-releases include the full original suite of content, featuring the Campaign, Multiplayer, and Zombies modes. Black Ops 2 is particularly noted for its competitive multiplayer and campaign with branching story choices.

While the technical execution has been slammed, the move is expected to be a financial success. Because these games were previously unavailable on modern PlayStation hardware, the publisher is expected to make countless millions of dollars from the release.