New South Korean rating board entries for Call of Duty: Black Ops and Black Ops 2 strongly suggest remastered versions are in the works. No official confirmation yet, but the pattern matches previous Call of Duty remaster announcements.
South Korea’s Game Rating and Administration Committee has published new rating entries for Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, both filed on May 21, 2026, and deliberated on May 29. Neither Microsoft nor Activision has officially confirmed any remaster or re-release, but this same rating board has a well-documented history of revealing games before their formal announcements. The original Black Ops sold over 31 million copies after its 2010 launch, while Black Ops 2 grossed more than $500 million in its first 24 hours in 2012, making them two of the highest-selling entries in the entire Call of Duty franchise.
Why the Korean Rating Board Matters
The Game Rating and Administration Committee is South Korea’s equivalent of the ESRB or PEGI. Every game sold in the country must pass through this body. When an older title appears with a fresh rating entry, it almost always means a new version is being prepared for release. The most notable precedent is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered: it appeared on the Korean board before Activision formally announced it in 2016. The same pattern preceded Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered in 2020.
The rating description for Black Ops refers to it as an “FPS set during the Cold War where participants engage in various operations and battles.” Black Ops 2 is described as “an FPS spanning 1973 to 2025, following the CIA and JSOC racing against time to prevent terrorist attacks.” The fact that both titles required entirely new rating submissions, rather than simple re-certifications, points toward remastered versions rather than straightforward digital re-releases.
Campaign Only or Full Multiplayer?
The biggest question is scope. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 was officially announced on May 28, 2026, with an October 23 release date. Activision typically avoids splitting the active multiplayer player base when a new mainline entry is about to launch. When Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered arrived in 2020, it deliberately excluded multiplayer to avoid competing with Warzone and Modern Warfare (2019). A similar approach for the Black Ops remasters would make commercial sense.
That said, many fans consider Black Ops 2’s multiplayer the finest in Call of Duty history. Its Pick 10 create-a-class system, Scorestreaks, and League Play set benchmarks that influenced every subsequent title. Iconic maps like Raid, Hijacked, Standoff, Slums, and Nuketown remain fan favourites, though several of these were already remastered as individual maps in Black Ops Cold War and other later titles. Whether Activision sees value in a full multiplayer revival alongside these remasters is unclear.
The Missing Steam Discounts
An additional detail fuelling speculation: during a recent Steam sale covering older Call of Duty titles, both Black Ops games were excluded from the discounts. Black Ops currently sits at $39.99 and Black Ops 2 at $59.99 on Steam, prices many players consider unreasonably high for games released over a decade ago. Pulling them from a sale is unusual and has been interpreted as a signal that Activision is preparing a separate commercial offering.
Xbox Games Showcase: The Likely Reveal Window
The Xbox Games Showcase 2026 is scheduled for Sunday, June 7, at 10:00 AM PT / 1:00 PM ET / 6:00 PM BST. The event will feature a deeper look at Modern Warfare 4, including the first public showing of its DMZ mode, followed by a dedicated Gears of War: E-Day Direct presentation. Multiple industry sources expect additional Call of Duty announcements to surface during or immediately after the showcase.
Modern Warfare 4 itself represents a major shift for the series. Developed by Infinity Ward with Beenox handling the PC version and Digital Legends building the Nintendo Switch 2 port, it drops PlayStation 4 and Xbox One support entirely. Its campaign features a war on the Korean Peninsula, a revamped multiplayer with “Ballistic Authority” gunplay improvements, and the return of DMZ as a standalone extraction mode. If Black Ops remasters are announced alongside this lineup, they could serve as a nostalgia-driven complement to the new release.
Call of Duty’s Remaster Track Record
Understanding what Activision has done before helps frame realistic expectations:
- Modern Warfare Remastered (2016): Full campaign and multiplayer. Initially bundled with Infinite Warfare, later sold separately. Included 16 remastered maps at launch.
- Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered (2020): Campaign only. No multiplayer or Spec Ops. Released as a standalone purchase.
The two approaches differ significantly in scope and pricing. A campaign-only package is far simpler to produce and avoids fragmenting the online community. A full remaster with multiplayer and Zombies would be a larger undertaking but would generate substantially more excitement, especially given how beloved Black Ops 2’s competitive multiplayer and Black Ops 1’s Zombies maps remain.
What Made These Games So Special?
Black Ops 1, released on November 9, 2010, earned $360 million in its first 24 hours and exceeded $1 billion in revenue within six weeks. Its Cold War narrative featuring Alex Mason, Frank Woods, and Viktor Reznov is widely regarded as one of the strongest single-player stories in FPS history. The Zombies mode introduced Kino der Toten, Ascension, and Moon, maps that remain pillars of the community to this day.
Black Ops 2, launched on November 13, 2012, was the first Call of Duty to feature a branching campaign with multiple endings. It sold 24.2 million copies by November 2013 and earned an 83 on Metacritic for the console versions. Its multiplayer innovations, including the Pick 10 system and Scorestreaks replacing Killstreaks, are still cited as high points for the franchise. The Zombies mode introduced Tranzit and later fan-favourite maps like Mob of the Dead and Origins.
Current Availability and Backward Compatibility
Both titles are currently playable on Xbox One and Xbox Series consoles through backward compatibility, but neither is included in Game Pass. On PlayStation, access is far more limited: the original versions were PS3 titles, and Sony’s current backward compatibility does not extend to most PS3 games without a PlayStation Plus Premium subscription for streaming. On PC, both games remain on Steam at their original high prices without recent discounts. A remaster would bring these titles to current-generation hardware natively, with improved visuals, performance, and potentially broader platform availability, including the possibility of a Nintendo Switch 2 release.
Questions Players Are Already Asking
Is the Black Ops remaster officially confirmed?
Not yet. The South Korean rating board entries are a strong indicator, but Activision and Microsoft have not made any announcement. Based on the board’s history of preceding official reveals, an announcement appears likely in the near term.
Will the remasters include multiplayer and Zombies?
Unknown at this stage. The precedent set by Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered suggests campaign-only releases are possible. However, Modern Warfare Remastered in 2016 did include multiplayer, so the door is not closed.
What platforms are expected?
Given that Modern Warfare 4 targets PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2 while dropping last-generation consoles, the remasters are likely to follow a similar platform strategy. Whether PS4 and Xbox One are included remains uncertain.
When could they be announced?
The Xbox Games Showcase on June 7, 2026, is the strongest candidate for a reveal. If the remasters are not shown there, later summer events or a standalone Activision announcement remain possibilities.
Could they launch alongside Modern Warfare 4?
A bundled release or a pre-order bonus tied to Modern Warfare 4 is one possibility some fans are speculating about. Activision previously bundled Modern Warfare Remastered with Infinite Warfare, so there is a precedent for this approach.
What to Expect Next
The South Korean rating board filings are the clearest sign yet that Call of Duty: Black Ops and Black Ops 2 are returning in some form. Whether as full remasters with campaign, multiplayer, and Zombies, or as campaign-only re-releases, these two titles represent some of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed entries in the franchise’s history. With the Xbox Games Showcase just days away and Modern Warfare 4 building momentum toward its October launch, the timing aligns perfectly for Activision to play the nostalgia card. For now, the community waits, but the evidence is stacking up in a familiar direction.
