Former Treyarch Designer Calls for Royalties After Black Ops PlayStation Ports’ $435M Sales Estimate

Nothing in the coverage suggests Microsoft or Activision has changed any pay policy in response. This is a story about an argument and the money behind it. It is not a policy announcement.

What Goslin actually said​

Goslin is a Treyarch veteran who worked as a level designer on both games. His post argues that the ports add few new features and are essentially the original games, so the original development team should see royalties from the new sales.

He called the releases "basic $40 digital re-releases with zero new features" that nonetheless landed in Circana's US top 10 for weekly active users. He described watching the charts as "bittersweet." He was proud of the work and the crunch his team endured, but unhappy that "the suits" collect the windfall.

His remedy is retroactive revenue sharing. He compares it to royalties in books, movies and music, and says executives' bonuses should not be the only reward for these games' longevity.

Two limits apply to what this establishes:

• It is one developer's view and his own experience. It does not document how every contributor was paid or what their contracts said.
• Goslin's claims about executive bonuses are his assertions. The coverage doesn't verify them.

The ports and the money​

The ports were a surprise drop. According to Alinea Analytics, both games sold an estimated 11.2 million copies combined in July, earning around $435 million in one month. VGC reports that the sequel in particular topped Circana's chart as the best-selling US game for July 2026.

Alinea's own write-up adds detail:

• The ports came from Iron Galaxy. They kept the full campaign, multiplayer and Zombies modes.
• Alinea calls them straight 1080p ports rather than remakes.
• They cost $40 each, with $20 for PlayStation Plus subscribers until August 6.
• Alinea estimates Black Ops 2 at 8.2 million PlayStation copies for about $325 million, and Black Ops at 3.0 million copies for $110 million.
• It puts Sony's roughly 30% platform cut at about $130 million.

These are analyst estimates, not audited publisher figures, and they cover July only. Gross revenue is also not profit, and it is not Microsoft's net take. Sales copies, revenue and Circana's weekly active users are separate measures, so avoid reading one as another. Alinea has also been questioned by others over its methodology.

Activision's view​

Activision marketing chief Tyler Bahl told The Game Business that the ports were huge successes and did better than the company expected. He credits pent-up demand for playing with friends, and says Activision is applying those lessons to Modern Warfare 4 and future games.

Bahl's comments are about nostalgia and marketing strategy. They do not respond to Goslin, and no report here shows Activision committing to share port revenue with former developers.

The same interview cites Ampere data suggesting the ports pushed Call of Duty's monthly players back toward 40 million. Ampere's data was incomplete for several titles, so treat that as context rather than proof.

Modern Warfare 4 was still forthcoming when this story ran, due October 23.

Where Xbox Labs fits, and where it doesn't​

IGN links the timing to Xbox Labs, a new group Xbox announced on October 13. Xbox's internal message says Labs will turn emerging ideas into things players and developers can try. It cites recent experiments that rebuild games for hardware they weren't designed for, such as Windows PC builds running on Apple Silicon or in a browser through WebAssembly and WebGPU.

The message also says these experiments can challenge existing business models. It lists being "responsible stewards of IP" among Xbox's priorities. It does not mention Black Ops, the PlayStation ports or developer royalties. The link to Goslin's post is IGN's framing of the timing, not something Xbox has said.

A separate Microsoft legacy-games move is Xbox Backward Compatibility on PC, announced July 22. It started in early release with four original Xbox games, which are playable on Windows 11 PCs and handhelds. It has no connection to the Black Ops ports, which are PlayStation-only releases.

Why PC and Xbox readers might care​

The ports show that old catalogue games can sell strongly on a rival platform, and that Microsoft treats that as a business line. Black Ops and Black Ops 2 have long been playable on Xbox through backward compatibility. This is likely why the PlayStation ports filled a gap rather than competing with an Xbox version.

Whether any royalty system emerges is unknown. Nothing in the reporting suggests one is coming. The practical takeaway is narrower. Activision plans to keep mining its back catalogue, and that is likely to keep the compensation question in the news.