Black Ops 2 Finally Hit PS5, and the Price Is What Everyone’s Actually Talking About
Call of Duty: Black Ops and Black Ops 2 landed on PS4 and PS5 this week, the first time either game has been on native Sony hardware since the PS3 era. Fans have been asking for this for years. Now that it’s here, the conversation is mostly about the price tag.
The ports arrived Thursday, handled by developer Iron Galaxy for Treyarch. Full campaign, full multiplayer, full Zombies for both games. And the internet lit up the second it went live.
Ports, not remasters
Let’s be clear about what these are. Activision has said plainly that these are re-releases, not remasters. Iron Galaxy did clean conversions of games that first shipped in 2010 and 2012.
That means no 4K glow-up, no rebuilt frame rates, no reworked lighting. If you loved how Black Ops 2 played in 2012, that’s what you’re getting, now running natively on a PS5. For a lot of players, that’s the whole point.
The price is the story
Here’s where it gets spicy. Each game costs $40, currently marked down to $20 until August 6. The season pass for each is $10 right now. When the discount ends, that season pass jumps to $30.
Do the math and a fully loaded copy of a 2012 game can climb toward $70 after the sale window closes. The base game also doesn’t include the original map pack DLC. Fans noticed all of it immediately.
The reaction has been mostly negative, aimed squarely at the pricing and the total lack of upgrades. And yet the engagement on Activision’s announcement posts actually outpaced the reaction to Modern Warfare 4, a brand-new entry in the series. People are mad, but they are paying attention.
What players are saying
The comments have been a mix of nostalgia and sticker shock.
“$40 for a 13-year-old game with no upgrades is wild. $20 I’ll bite. $40 no chance.”
“I don’t care what it costs, Black Ops 2 on my PS5 is all I’ve wanted since I sold my PS3.”
“The season pass going back to $30 after the sale is the most Activision thing I’ve ever seen.”
Why this matters beyond nostalgia
Black Ops 2 has a specific kind of grip on players. It’s widely considered one of the best multiplayer entries the series ever made, and its Zombies maps still get talked about a decade later. Xbox players have had it through backward compatibility for years, though those versions have battled cheaters and server exploits for just as long.
So a fresh native PlayStation release is a real event, even at a debatable price. Whether Iron Galaxy’s ports hold up against the cheating problems that hit the Xbox versions is the next thing everyone will be watching.
If you like arguments about old games getting new life, the Red Dead Redemption 3 debate is running on similar fuel right now. For more launches and platform news, follow our Tech section.
The demand was always there. The only question was the price, and now we have the answer.
