The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of Call of Duty: Black Ops III were developed by Beenox and Mercenary Technology while the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC versions of the game were developed by Treyarch. Due to the last generation consoles' inferior hardware, significant changes had to be made.

These changes include:

- The campaign is not available.
- Nightmares mode is not available.
- Ground War is not available.
- The Season Pass is not available
- Only the bonus Zombies map, The Giant and the Awakening DLC pack are available to download
- Reduced graphics quality and performance