The surprising re-releases of Call of Duty: Black Ops and Black Ops 2 for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 have become massive sales hits. But while publisher Activision and parent company Microsoft are turning old successes into new money with these reissues, a prominent developer of the original games has now spoken out with strong criticism: Gavin Goslin, who worked for 15 years as a level designer and artist at Treyarch, describes the ongoing cash bonanza for executives as a frustrating testament to the lack of participation models in the games industry.

40-dollar ports without DLCs conquer the charts

In July, Activision brought the two shooter classics from 2010 and 2012 as simple digital ports to the current Sony consoles. Despite a proud price of 40 US dollars each and the complete absence of the former additional content (DLCs), players' nostalgia struck with full force:

Both titles quickly shot into the US top 10 of weekly active users (Circana) and count among the most played titles of the year. For the publisher, the project developed into a real cash machine — based on development work that was completed over a decade ago.

Brutal crunch for code that now enriches the executive suite

For Gavin Goslin, who was significantly involved in the games at the time, this commercial triumph leaves mixed feelings. On LinkedIn, the former Treyarch employee expressed himself emotionally about the discrepancy between developer effort and executive bonuses:

"I poured my life into these games and worked countless brutal crunch hours alongside an incredibly talented team to make sure they were perfect. Seeing our blood, sweat, and tears still dominate the charts in 2026 is great. But it's hard to watch the suited executives rake in gigantic financial profits from our old code while the actual creators don't see a single cent of it."

Goslin emphasized that the success of the ports proves how much modern players long for the focused and high-quality gaming experiences of days gone by. At the same time, however, it reveals the injustice of the industry, in which managers collect fat bonuses for reheating old projects while the original workforce gets nothing.

Missing royalties: Demand for "Legacy Rewards"

The core problem lies in the structures of the games industry: unlike Hollywood, where unions like the WGA or SAG-AFTRA negotiate fixed royalty payments (Residuals) for reruns and re-releases on TV or streaming, such a compensation model practically does not exist in video games. Developers who worked for years under extreme time pressure and health detriments on masterpieces receive no ongoing participation in later reissues after project completion.

Goslin therefore advocates a rethink by publishers and calls for retroactive profit sharing: when studios successfully monetize decades-old brands ("Legacy Titles"), the developers who endured the crunch at the time should also partake in these revenues. His statement is likely to rekindle the debate about fair working conditions and sustainable compensation in the games industry again.