Microsoft has signed a 10-year agreement to bring Call of Duty titles to Nintendo platforms, including the Nintendo Switch, with full feature and content parity with Xbox. Despite concerns over the Switch’s aging hardware, Microsoft is confident that it can optimize Warzone and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 to run natively on the platform.
In response to the UK regulator’s remedies notice, Microsoft cited the mature game engine that powers Warzone and the history of the Activision development team in optimizing game performance for available hardware capabilities. The company also pointed to other successful Switch ports, such as Apex Legends, Doom Eternal, Fortnite, and Crysis 3, as evidence that standard techniques could be used to bring Call of Duty titles to the platform.
However, the VGC article notes that those games have faced challenges with frame rate, image quality, and limited draw distance when ported to the Switch and that Warzone struggles to maintain 60 FPS on current consoles, making the likelihood of achieving it on the Switch very slim.
While Microsoft has not confirmed any specific timeline for porting these games to the Nintendo Switch, the company seems confident that the mature game engine that powers Warzone can be optimized to run on a wide range of hardware devices, including the Switch. However, it is worth noting that previous ports of similar games on the Switch have not been fully optimized, and there may be some performance issues.
While Microsoft’s 10-year agreement to bring Call of Duty titles to Nintendo platforms is a promising development for the gaming community, it remains to be seen how the company will address the challenges of porting the game to the Switch’s hardware. Nevertheless, the company’s confidence in its ability to optimize Warzone and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 to run on the Nintendo Switch is a positive sign for Switch owners.
