Activision patches cheats on PlayStation Black Ops ports

The recently released PlayStation ports of "Call of Duty: Black Ops" and "Black Ops II" have been overrun by hackers within days of their launch, forcing the developer to disable popular game modes and deploy emergency fixes. The ports, which launched on July 9, 2026, for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, have been plagued by exploits that allow players to instantly reach the maximum rank while demoting others, effectively locking them out of online multiplayer.

The central issue involves modified game lobbies, particularly in the Domination and Ground War playlists. Hackers are exploiting a method that involves transferring and editing PlayStation 4 save files on a computer before uploading them back to the console network. Once in a match, these players repeatedly kill themselves with grenades, which, due to the modified game state, grants them massive amounts of experience points to achieve "max prestige" almost instantly.

A more severe side effect has impacted legitimate players. Reports indicate that killing one of these hackers can result in the victim receiving negative experience points, dropping their character level below one. Since multiplayer matchmaking requires...