Call of Duty: Black Ops 1 and 2 Released on PS4 and PS5, But Players Criticize Remasters for Price and Lack of Improvements

Activision also decided to sell season pass content separately.

Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 have been released on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, but instead of enthusiastic reviews, the release has sparked a wave of criticism. Players are unhappy with both the cost of the remasters and the minimal technical improvements.

Activision priced each game at $40, so buying both parts will cost $80. However, season passes with add-ons are not included – each will cost an additional $30, and a full set of add-ons for both games increases the total cost to $140.

For PlayStation Plus subscribers, there is a temporary discount until August 6. As part of the promotion, each game costs $20, and the season pass is about $10, which reduces the total price of the full set to approximately $60.

Despite the high cost, the remasters have received almost no noticeable improvements. Even before the release, Activision warned that these were ports, not full remasters, and, according to many players, the company indeed limited itself to the bare minimum of work.

Digital Foundry specialists described the new versions as “lazy.” According to them, they offer almost no advantages compared to backward compatibility on Xbox and are significantly inferior to the capabilities of PC versions.

On PlayStation 5, the games do not utilize the capabilities of the new-generation console: there is no 4K resolution, 120 frames per second mode, or modern settings that have already become standard for the Call of Duty series, including field of view (FOV) adjustment and separate sensitivity parameters.

According to Digital Foundry's analysis, both games run at 1080p on both PS4 and PS5, without using anti-aliasing. There are also no improved shadows or any noticeable graphical enhancements. The only tangible advantage mentioned is the output of the image in 1080p instead of approximately 608p on the original Xbox 360, but a similar result has long been available through backward compatibility on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S.

Due to the almost complete lack of a marketing campaign, many features of the ports became known only after the games' release. In particular, players were interested in cross-generational multiplayer support between PS4 and PS5 owners, as well as the impact of season passes on matchmaking.