Activision’s recent release of Call of Duty: Black Ops and its sequel for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 has hit a significant roadblock. Despite the 15-year gap between the original releases and these new versions, players are reporting that the ports are suffering from the same XP exploits that plagued the original PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions.
The Root of the Security Issue
While these releases are straightforward ports rather than full remasters, the decision to maintain the original file structure appears to be the source of the trouble. According to a modder interviewed by YouTuber Tdawgsmitty, the vulnerability stems from the game's file encryption.
"The save data is the exact same as PS3," the modder explained. "What sucks about this port is that Iron Galaxy and Activision didn't bother changing the encryption on the files, which is the whole reason why this is available right now." By moving save files to a USB drive, players can use websites to decrypt them, allowing for unauthorized modifications—such as spamming grenades to farm massive amounts of XP—that ruin the experience for legitimate competitive players.
Activision’s Response
The situation has rendered many multiplayer lobbies in the first Black Ops nearly unplayable. In response to the wave of exploiters, Activision disabled specific playlists to conduct an investigation. The publisher has since deployed a server-wide fix for some of these issues, though reports suggest that other game modes remain vulnerable to manipulation.
Quick Facts
- Platforms: The ports were released for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5; the games are also available on Xbox Series X|S via backward compatibility.
- Nature of Ports: These are direct ports, not remasters, which has resulted in the retention of legacy file vulnerabilities.
- Current Status: Activision has disabled select playlists to investigate and has implemented server-side fixes for some, but not all, modes.