Call of Duty: Black Ops and Black Ops 2 are being ported to PS4 and PS5 in July, bringing back campaign, Zombies, and multiplayer—but Activision is clear they’re ports, not remasters. That distinction matters for how much (and what) players should expect, incl
The announcement landed without the usual fanfare, even though what it points to is huge: the original Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 are coming to PlayStation again.
Treyarch said on X that the two games are “being ported” to PlayStation, with both titles arriving at some point in July. The re-releases, according to the developer’s post, will include all three modes from the originals—campaign, Zombies, and multiplayer.
Details are still thin. Treyarch’s X posts did not spell out pricing. whether there will be a bundle option for the two games. or whether any DLC add-ons will be included. What did stand out was who will be doing the work: Iron Galaxy. a studio known for taking on porting duties and remastering projects for other games. often to a high standard.
The low-key nature of the rollout makes more sense when you look at what happened before. The existence of these re-releases had leaked earlier, and listings had even appeared on Korea’s rating board. That history helps explain why Treyarch’s announcement didn’t arrive like a full-blown reveal.
But once players started asking what “ported” actually means for what they’ll get, Activision stepped in. The publisher confirmed that the Black Ops 1&2 re-releases will be available on PS4 and PS5, and stressed that these are ports, not remasters.
That one word—port—should shape expectations before anyone spends money. If the games are not remasters. and if they’re coming across PS4 and PS5. that points away from them being native to PS5. In practical terms, support for PS5 features such as 120Hz would be unlikely. The games also come from an era where performance and gameplay were tied closely to the original hardware. Black Ops titles from that period are known for locking certain gameplay characteristics. including physics. to the player’s framerate; any meaningful tweaks would require more work than a straightforward carryover.
There’s another issue that hits harder for the part of the Black Ops legacy many players still care about: multiplayer. The biggest question is whether these re-releases will rely on the existing server infrastructure—meaning players on modern PlayStation would connect to the same kind of multiplayer environment that existed on PS3 when the original games launched.
Call of Duty multiplayer on PS3 and Xbox 360 is widely known for being plagued by hacked lobbies. Since those older systems no longer receive security updates. players have been able to inject code into the games. modify files. and effectively control parameters that normal matchmaking shouldn’t allow. If the re-releases reuse the same infrastructure rather than moving to dedicated servers controlled by Activision. the concern is straightforward: multiplayer could become nearly unplayable as those problems follow the games forward.
In that sense, the announcement reads less like a resurrection and more like a transfer of two classic packages onto modern consoles—campaign and Zombies in a familiar form, multiplayer in a version that may carry the same baggage as the older ecosystem.
It also frames why PlayStation is getting ports while Xbox players already have another path. On Xbox, the games are available through backwards compatibility. PlayStation doesn’t have its own equivalent backwards compatibility approach, which is why Treyarch and Activision are pursuing ports instead. A similar strategy was used by Rockstar for the Red Dead Redemption re-release on PS4 in 2023.
For now, the timeline is set to land in July, the modes are confirmed—campaign, Zombies, and multiplayer—and the message from Activision is unmistakable: temper expectations. These are ports, not remasters.
Call of Duty Black Ops 1 Black Ops 2 PlayStation port Treyarch Iron Galaxy PS4 PS5 campaign Zombies multiplayer not remasters Activision confirmation July release