A former Call of Duty designer has expressed frustration over the financial success of recent PlayStation ports of Black Ops 1 and 2, suggesting that the original development teams should receive royalty payments. Gavin Goslin, a former level designer at Treyarch, stated on LinkedIn that the ports, which require minimal new development, represent Microsoft and Activision "printing money off of work completed over a decade ago."
According to estimates from Alinea Analytics, the combined sales of Black Ops 1 and 2 on PlayStation in July reached 11.2 million copies, generating approximately $435 million in a single month. Goslin noted that these $40 digital re-releases, lacking any new features, quickly climbed into the U.S. Top 10 for weekly active users. He described the experience as "bittersweet," acknowledging the enduring appeal of the games while lamenting that the "actual creators don't see a dime of it."
Goslin advocated for a system similar to those in book, film, and music industries, where creators receive residuals for their work. "If executives are getting massive bonuses off the longevity of these classics, that wealth needs to be shared retroactively," he argued. "Legacy revenue should mean legacy rewards for the devs who survived the crunch to build them."
This discussion emerges amidst a rise in AI-generated game ports and a broader industry conversation about intellectual property and creator compensation. Microsoft itself has acknowledged the trend with the announcement of its Xbox Labs project, aimed in part at improving the playability of older games in web browsers.
Activision appears poised to capitalize further on nostalgia-driven sales. Tyler Bahl, Chief Marketing Officer, recently commented to The Game Business that the publisher learned valuable lessons from the success of the Black Ops ports. "We are definitely leaning into the nostalgia of playing with your friends," Bahl said. "The Black Ops ports were huge successes. We thought they would do well, we didn’t think they would do that well. But you can see that pent-up demand of being able to get back to the good old days of playing with your friends on a Friday night and having fun. MW4 does that."
Bahl indicated that these learnings are influencing current and future game development. With the upcoming release of Modern Warfare 4, Activision may consider further re-releases of classic titles, potentially revisiting the Modern Warfare series in a similar fashion to the recent Black Ops success.