Activision has officially brought the Xbox 360-era staples Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. While the titles have enjoyed long-standing support through backwards compatibility on Xbox platforms, this marks the first time PlayStation owners have had a native way to access these classic entries on modern hardware.

However, the release has been met with significant backlash from the community. Each game carries a $40 price tag, and neither title includes any of its original downloadable content. While a temporary discount is available on the PlayStation Store through August 6, 2026, allowing players to pick up each game for $20, the standard pricing structure has drawn heavy criticism.

The Cost of Nostalgia

The financial barrier extends to the game's map packs and additional content. Players looking to complete their experience must purchase season passes separately. During the current promotional window, these passes are priced at $10 each, but that cost will triple to $30 per game once the sale concludes in August. This puts the total cost for both games and their respective DLC at over $60 during the sale, and potentially up to $140 for those who purchase after the discount expires.

Bare-Bones Performance

Beyond the pricing, the ports have disappointed fans due to a lack of technical updates. Despite the jump to PS4 and PS5, the games do not feature modern quality-of-life additions such as FOV sliders or support for 120FPS. Reports indicate that the releases are essentially the original software with minor upscaling to accommodate 4K televisions, leaving many to wonder why these versions were not optimized for current-generation systems.

The move has been labeled by many in the community as a missed opportunity. Fans on social media have pointed out that a more robust, bundled release—potentially including crossplay or bundled DLC—would have been better received. Instead, the release has been characterized by many as a "greedy" approach to re-releasing beloved shooters, effectively splitting the player base between those who are willing to rebuy the old DLC and those who are not.

While the ports do include the full original suite of modes, including the fan-favorite Zombies, the lack of added value has turned what could have been a celebratory release into a point of frustration for the Call of Duty community.