Black Ops 2 Growing More Popular, Not Less, With Age

With so many games giving up on the last generation, it’s kind of strange to see Activision-Blizzard (who recently entered spotlights the other day with the acquisition of mobile gaming juggernaut King) so committed to the past. Comparatively, I mean--while it won’t nearly be as complete as the Xbox One, PS4, or PC version, the Xbox 360 and PS3 version of Black Ops 3 is still going to be released in tandem with the more modern version, and even without a campaign (which, honestly, who buys those games for that anyway?), it’s still got all the multiplayer goodies the more modern competitors enjoy.

But therein lies the question: why? I mean, it has to be expensive, and the number of old-gen players must be dwindling, so why cater to them?

Turns out, the number of Call of Duty: Black Ops fans are quite large--and a good chunk of them are still stranded in the past generation. According to a recent press release, which was caught by CoD fan site Charlie Intel, Black Ops 2, despite being three years old, has actually grown more popular, not less--the number of active subscribers currently sitting at 12 million. So there’s clearly a market for a version of the game on old consoles, and I have to say--it’s downright inspiring to see Activision do that kind of thing. No man left behind, huh?

Plus, this might give the financially disadvantaged a shot of making the big leagues with Activision's newly-announced e-sports branch and the Call of Duty World League--so get good enough on your Xbox 360 and you could be playing in front of millions on a top-of-the-line PC. Sounds exciting!

Either way, I applaud Activision for their inclusivity--if you’re going to monopolize a market, this is how you do it.