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Gavin Goslin Says Black Ops Developers Should Share in the Ports’ Success
Gavin Goslin’s royalties appeal followed a striking revival for Black Ops and Black Ops 2: third party estimates put their combined July 2026 sales at 11.2 million copies.
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- Gavin Goslin’s royalties appeal followed a striking revival for Black Ops and Black Ops 2: third party estimates put their combined July 2026 sales at 11.2 million copies.
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openai.comCreate a landscape editorial hero image for this Studio Global article: What prompted longtime Treyarch developer Gavin Goslin—who joined the studio in February 2011, worked as a level designer on Call of Duty: B. Article summary: Goslin’s appeal was prompted by the ports’ enormous success: he welcomed the enduring popularity of games he helped make, but said it was “hard to watch” executives reap fresh financial windfalls while “the actual creato. Topic tags: general, general web. Style: premium digital editorial illustration, source-backed research mood, clean composition, high detail, modern web publication hero. Use reference image context only for broad subject, composition, and topical grounding; do not copy the exact image. Avoid: logos, brand marks, copyrighted characters, real person likenesses, fake screenshots, UI text, readable text, watermarks, charts with fake numbers, clic
Gavin Goslin says the success of the PlayStation re-releases of Call of Duty: Black Ops and Black Ops 2 is both gratifying and frustrating. The former Treyarch level designer is pleased that games he helped make remain popular, but argues that the original developers should share in the money generated when their work is sold again. 5
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Why Goslin is calling for royalties
In comments reported from a LinkedIn post, Goslin said it was “hard to watch” executives make money from work completed more than a decade ago while “the actual creators don’t see a dime.” He argued that the original teams deserve royalties from re-release sales, particularly when the new versions offer few significant changes from the originals. 3
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The issue is not only that the games returned to modern consoles. Goslin also recalled the demanding development process behind them, including crunch. That history makes the ports’ commercial success feel bittersweet: the work continues to find an audience, but he says the people who created it are not sharing in the new revenue. 2
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His call is an appeal for a different approach to compensation—not evidence that Activision or Microsoft violated a contractual obligation. The available reporting does not establish what agreements individual developers had or whether they were legally entitled to royalties. 4
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The sales success put the debate in focus
Activision released PS4 and PS5 versions of both games on July 9, 2026. Black Ops 2 went on to lead Circana’s US best-selling games chart for July, according to reporting on the chart results. 7
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The scale of the ports’ performance is also striking, though the figures are estimates rather than confirmed company results. Alinea Analytics estimates cited by multiple outlets put combined July sales at about 11.2 million copies and revenue at roughly $435 million. That revenue estimate should not be confused with profit, and it does not show how much—if any—was distributed to individual developers. 5
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For Goslin, the response shows that older games can retain substantial commercial value. He also described their success as evidence of demand for the kind of “tight, high-quality experiences” he believes players still want. 3
A question about who benefits from a game’s long life
The ports’ performance sharpens a broader fairness question: when a game keeps earning years after its original release, should compensation for its creators end with the initial development period? Goslin’s position is that original developers should receive royalties from re-releases, rather than the renewed value going only to the companies that own and publish the games. 4
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The sources establish his argument and the ports’ reported commercial success, but they do not resolve what a fair or practical royalty system should look like. Nor do they document the specific contracts behind Black Ops or Black Ops 2. The debate is therefore about Goslin’s proposed principle—sharing revenue from legacy games—not a settled claim about what the original teams were owed under their agreements.
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Gavin Goslin’s royalties appeal followed a striking revival for Black Ops and Black Ops 2: third party estimates put their combined July 2026 sales at 11.2 million copies.
Sources
ign.comFormer Call of Duty Dev Calls for Royalty Payments After Huge Black Ops PlayStation Port Sales
ibtimes.co.ukCall of Duty Developer Recalls Brutal Crunch While Calling for a Share of Black Ops Re-Release Revenue
frvr.comCall of Duty: Black Ops designer says recent remasters are “hard to watch” as “the suits rake in giant financial windfalls… while the actual creators don’t see a dime”