Call of Duty fans on Xbox, your single biggest request has been granted: Call of Duty: Black Ops II is Now Available on Xbox One via Backward Compatibility.

And yes, this is a big deal. Gamers long ago made Black Ops II the single biggest request for Backward Compatibility, a service that lets us play previous generation Xbox 360 games on the otherwise incompatible Xbox One. And in recent months, it’s taken a somewhat dark turn, with Xbox executives publicly expressing frustration that they were unable to make it happen more quickly. The issue, of course, is the publisher, and whatever rights and porting difficulties might arrive.

But Call of Duty: Black Ops II is here now. Or, it will be sometime today. (I don’t see it as I write this.)

Update: I do see it, and am downloading it, now. –Paul

“We’re thrilled with the continued excitement for the program and ongoing engagement of our fans, who have played more than 360 million hours of Xbox 360 games on Xbox One,” Microsoft’s Will Tuttle writes. “Fans who own Call of Duty: Black Ops II can play it on Xbox One at no additional cost. If you don’t own it yet, now is a great time to experience this blockbuster. As part of Spring Sale all Xbox fans can save 50% and Xbox Live Gold Members save 60% through April 17.”

Like all Call of Duty titles, Black Ops II was a smash hit, and it earned $1 Billion in just 15 days in late 2012, which was then a record: It’s predecessor, Modern Warfare 3, needed 16 days.

“Black Ops II beats out Halo 4 as my choice for the best game of the year by a pretty wide margin,” I wrote at the time. “Black Ops II achieves this by offering single player and multiplayer experiences that are both better than previous Call of Duty games and better than those offered by the competition.”

“As with previous games, it’s a winning combination of the best available single player and multiplayer experiences there are, and it’s easily the best game in the market right now. But as a long-time fan of Call of Duty, I’m curious where they go with this series next. Black Ops, like Modern Warfare, seems to have a well-defined arc, and while there’s no way they’ll ever go back to World War II, Activision needs to figure out a viable long-term strategy for the series. The next one can’t be “future wars.”

Oops.

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