New Call of Duty: Black Ops Releases on PS5, PS4 Come With a Disappointing Downside

June 19, 2026, 1:12pm

Activision has confirmed that its upcoming re-releases of Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 on PS5 and PS4 will come with a notable downside. Earlier this week, it was confirmed that the first two entries in the Black Ops sub-series would be making a return on PlayStation platforms in July. Despite this announcement being met with widespread positivity, Activision didn’t share many specifics on the nature of these released, which left fans asking plenty of questions. Now, Activision has responded to arguably the most-asked question of all, and it’s sadly not what fans wanted to hear.

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In a statement given to Eurogamer, a representative from Activision verified that these new versions of Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 are simply ports. This means that the games haven’t been remastered or altered in any way when compared to their original iterations on PS3. As such, anyone who is expecting to jump into these new versions of the games in July shouldn’t expect drastic improvements to the visuals or performance of either title.

Although this is a bummer to hear, it’s hardly a surprising move. Activision used the term “ported” when first announcing these re-releases, which made it somewhat apparent from the jump that they wouldn’t be remastered. This, combined with the fact that these games aren’t getting brought over to Xbox or PC since they’re already forward compatible on these platforms, suggested that little work was being done to Black Ops and Black Ops 2.

Despite this, it’ll still be great to have both Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 on PS5 and PS4, as the games have remained gridlocked to PS3 for those in the PlayStation ecosystem. In a time when the Call of Duty series has been met with some pushback over the past few years, this is a very easy win for Activision that should result in countless millions of dollars being made for the publisher. Whether or not the multiplayer servers for Black Ops and Black Ops 2 end up being populated with millions of new players remains to be seen, but it’s currently looking like these ports will be hugely successful.

Currently, Activision hasn’t specified exactly when Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 will be coming to PS5 and PS4 platforms, as only a broad launch window of July 2026 has been shared. With July rapidly approaching, however, it shouldn’t take much longer for us to learn about when these ports will be available.

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