Activision has begun addressing significant hacking and modding issues plaguing the recently released PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 ports of Call of Duty: Black Ops 1 and Black Ops 2. Despite their minimal offerings and premium pricing, the ports have quickly become best-sellers on the PlayStation Store. However, this popularity has predictably resurrected long-standing problems from the games' original releases, primarily concerning hackers and manipulated game lobbies.
Players have reported encountering hackers who utilize exploits to achieve instant max level, demote other players to below level one, gain access to 'Pro' Perks, and employ various other unauthorized advantages, such as wall-hacking. These experiences have been widely shared across social media platforms and the Call of Duty subreddit.
Initial Response and Fixes
In response to player outcry, Activision initially disabled popular playlists such as Ground War and Domination on Monday. The company referred to Tuesday's re-enabling of these playlists as "the first phase of a fix." A server-side adjustment was implemented to specifically address negative XP exploits, which resulted in affected players being boosted to level 20. Activision has indicated that further fixes are planned.
The issues mirror those that plagued the original PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of Black Ops 1 and 2 in their later years. A common exploit involved players reaching Max Prestige, the game's highest level, by manipulating save files. While direct save file modification is not possible on the PS5 due to its inability to transfer save data to USB drives, the process is feasible on the PS4. Hackers can modify their PS4 save files, upload them to external services for alteration, and then re-upload the modded file to PlayStation Network. This allows them to participate in games on both PS4 and PS5, as Activision has enabled cross-generational play for these titles, thus impacting players across both console generations.
The reliance on a peer-to-peer listen-server model, rather than dedicated servers, exacerbates these problems. In this system, each match is hosted by a player's console and internet connection, making it easier to replicate cheats. The constant interruption of matches due to players leaving or being affected by exploits further disrupts gameplay.
Another significant problem involves players being demoted to sub-one level simply by killing a hacker. This negative XP exploit, also present on older platforms, locks players out of multiplayer matchmaking entirely, as it requires a minimum level of one to participate. Some community members have called for a full player progress reset, while others express relief that Activision is actively addressing the legacy issues that many feared would return with these ports.