A new scandal is brewing in the gaming industry involving a classic shooter franchise. Microsoft and Activision have decided to expand the geographical distribution of their cult titles, but the consequences of this move have been unexpected and painful for the loyal Xbox audience. Treyarch officially announced that Call of Duty: Black Ops (2010) and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (2012) will receive full native ports for PlayStation consoles as early as July.

Native Launch vs. Cloud Streaming

For Sony console owners, this is long-awaited news. Previously, modern PS4 and PS5 models lacked hardware compatibility with PS3 discs, and the only way to play these masterpieces was via cloud streaming as part of the PlayStation Plus Premium subscription. This solution often suffered from latency and unstable connections.

Now the situation is changing. The experienced team at Iron Galaxy Studios has taken on the creation of native modern versions. The ports will connect to existing server networks, guaranteeing PlayStation users full access to multiplayer and zombie modes directly, without intermediaries in the form of the cloud.

Disappointment for Xbox Owners

The positive emotions of PlayStation fans have been replaced by a wave of outrage in the Microsoft community. The paradox of the situation is that both parts of Black Ops have been available on Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S consoles since 2016 thanks to the backward compatibility program. However, over the years, Microsoft has not taken steps to improve the gaming experience for its customers.

The situation is exacerbated by the fact that owners of the competing platform will receive a version of the game with improved specifications, while Xbox users will be left with outdated versions. The main complaints from the audience regarding the current state of games on Microsoft consoles boil down to the following points:

  • Outdated Resolution: On flagship Xbox Series X consoles, games still run at a base resolution of 720p, making the image blurry and not up to the capabilities of modern "hardware".
  • Cheating Problem: The servers for both parts on Xbox and PC have remained neglected for years, resulting in multiplayer being completely overrun by hackers.
  • Absence from Game Pass: Despite Microsoft acquiring Activision Blizzard almost three years ago, these old games have still not been added to the subscription library. Users have to buy them separately, and pay full price for story expansions (DLC).

Community Reaction and Consequences

The audience is not holding back emotions on social media. "Microsoft and Xbox really hate their customers. Yes, the Xbox 360 version exists. But the games are locked at 720p resolution and are infested with hackers. Years have passed since the merger with Activision, and they are still not in Game Pass, plus you have to buy DLC separately. What is this madness," writes one of the fans.

At the moment, neither Microsoft nor Treyarch has announced technical patches or graphical updates for Xbox and PC that could bring the game quality on par with the upcoming native ports for PlayStation. The situation where owners of competitor consoles receive better gaming conditions from internal Xbox studios significantly undermines the brand's reputation and calls into question the effectiveness of asset management following the major deal to acquire Activision Blizzard.