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Call of Duty: Black Ops 1 and 2 Ports Out Now on PS5, But They Come at a High Cost
Developed over time first seen 4 months ago
Call of Duty: Black Ops 1 and 2 have been re-released digitally on PS4 and PS5, but the ports have drawn attention chiefly for their high price. Each game costs $40, with a separate $29.99 season pass for the downloadable content, meaning fans wanting the full experience of both titles must pay up to $140 for games that are around fifteen years old — an outcome players had feared for weeks.
There is a notable discount for PlayStation Plus subscribers, who can buy each game for $20 and each season pass for $9, bringing the total to roughly $60; this offer runs until 6 August. A free customisation pack is included for Black Ops 2, but the ports add no new features and lack crossplay, which the article suggests may benefit players given the hacker-plagued servers on the original versions. Some content has also been cut, with CharlieIntel reporting that wager matches and theatre mode have been removed, though the campaign, multiplayer, Zombies and the emblem editor all remain.
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In short
- Black Ops 1 and 2 ports are out on PS4 and PS5.
- Full experience of both games costs up to $140.
- PS Plus discount cuts the total to about $60 until 6 August.
How this story developed
- 4 months ago Call of Duty: Black Ops 1 and 2 have now gone live as digital ports on PS4 and PS5, confirming the steep pricing that fans had feared.
- 4 months ago Call of Duty: Black Ops 1 and 2 have been released as digital ports on PS4 and PS5, but fans have criticised the steep pricing.
- 4 months ago Call of Duty: Black Ops 1 and 2 have been re-released digitally on PS4 and PS5, but the ports have drawn attention chiefly for their high price.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Porting these games to current hardware involves meaningful development and ongoing server costs, justifying a substantial retail price. Players retain full purchasing freedom, and those with PlayStation Plus access benefit from significant discounts making the titles more affordable. The market will determine whether pricing is sustainable; asking publishers to discount retro content heavily effectively demands they subsidise consumer entertainment rather than fairly compensate their investment.
The case against
Releasing fifteen-year-old games at full retail price, with features removed and no new content added, represents pricing that exploits nostalgia rather than delivers genuine value. The substantial cumulative cost for a complete experience of decade-old titles far exceeds what competitors typically charge for legacy content through subscriptions or lower price points. This pricing appears designed to extract maximum revenue from a captive audience lacking alternatives, rather than provide consumers with a genuinely compelling value proposition.
Explained simply
Call of Duty's Black Ops 1 and 2 are among the most popular entries in the long-running military shooter franchise, originally released around 2010 and 2012. Activision, the publisher, has now brought both games to PS4 and PS5 as digital re-releases, updating them for modern consoles rather than building new games from scratch.
The story matters because of how these remasters have been priced and packaged. Buying both games plus their separate downloadable content passes can cost significantly more than many new, full-price releases, despite the underlying games being roughly fifteen years old, and this has become the main talking point among players and commentators.
There is also debate about what has changed beyond the price. The re-releases keep core modes like campaign, multiplayer and Zombies, but some older features have reportedly been dropped, and the games lack crossplay, a function that lets people on different consoles play together, which is normally expected in modern releases.
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