Microsoft ‘Confident’ It Can Get Call of Duty Running on Nintendo Switch

Following Microsoft and Nintendo’s agreement to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo platforms for at least a decade, Microsoft has further detailed its plans for Call of Duty on the Nintendo Switch.

In a filing with the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (via The Verge ), Microsoft revealed that it believes full premium releases of Warzone and Call of Duty could have a place on Nintendo’s hybrid console.

“The game engine that powers Warzone is mature and optimized to run on a wide range of hardware devices (ranging from the Xbox One console released in 2015 to the Xbox Series X),” reads part of the filing. “Warzone supports PC hardware with GPU cards that have been released since 2015 (ie, before the Nintendo Switch was released in 2017).”

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Just because the Switch is newer than the Xbox One doesn’t mean Nintendo’s console is more powerful. In fact, it’s quite the opposite, as we’ve seen numerous games originally released on Xbox One receive native Switch ports with lower performance and resolution to get them running on the system.

It seems that Microsoft is ready for Activision Blizzard to follow the reduced port option as well when it comes to releasing Call of Duty on Nintendo platforms.

“The Activision development team has a long history of optimizing game performance for available hardware capabilities,” the statement said. “The parties are confident that other than Warzone, CoD buy-to-play titles (eg, CoD: Modern Warfare 2) can be optimized to run on Nintendo Switch in a timely manner using standard techniques that have been used to bring games like Apex Legends, DOOM Eternal, Fortnite and Crysis 3 to Switch.”

In addition to the games listed in Microsoft’s report, the Nintendo Switch has also seen ports of games like Skyrim, Wolfenstein 2, Dark Souls Remastered and more. It looks like Microsoft won’t be getting cloud version access on Nintendo platforms, as the company said the deal means that “Microsoft will develop and publish future console versions of CoD titles for Nintendo platforms for at least 10 years.”

The report submitted to the UK CMA is the latest in Microsoft’s efforts to push through its acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Statements from Microsoft, Activision Blizzard and Sony have continued for more than a year, with Sony’s latest argument saying that Microsoft may be deliberately sabotaging the PlayStation version of Call of Duty.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN covering video game and entertainment news. He has over six years of experience in the gaming industry with lines from IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine and Lifewire. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.