Treyarch has officially announced that Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 are being ported to PlayStation consoles. The two titles are slated for release in July and will feature their original campaign, Zombies, and multiplayer modes. The announcement follows earlier leaks and rating board appearances, suggesting a subdued rollout.
Iron Galaxy, a studio known for its porting work, is handling the development. While the studio has a strong track record, Activision has stressed that these are ports, not remasters. This distinction is significant for players anticipating modern enhancements.
Given that these are ports and will be available on both PS4 and PS5, it is unlikely they will be native PS5 titles, meaning features like 120Hz support may not be included. Historically, games from this era sometimes tied physics and gameplay mechanics to the original hardware's framerate, and updating these elements would require considerable additional work beyond a standard port.
A more pressing concern revolves around the multiplayer infrastructure. If the ports utilize the original server architecture from the PlayStation 3, players may encounter issues with hacked lobbies. Older Call of Duty titles on PS3 and Xbox 360 are notorious for security vulnerabilities that allow widespread game manipulation. Without dedicated servers managed by Activision, these classic multiplayer experiences could become difficult to play.
These ports aim to bring the beloved Black Ops titles to modern PlayStation hardware, filling a gap for players who do not have access to backwards compatibility, unlike Xbox owners who can play many older Call of Duty titles via that feature. This approach is similar to Rockstar Games' re-release of Red Dead Redemption on PS4.
Details regarding pricing, bundle options, and inclusion of original DLC have not yet been revealed.