The deal between Microsoft and Nintendo brings the CoD franchise back to the family console. But the shooter is actually barely feasible for the Nintendo Switch.
Call of Duty will once again be playable on Nintendo consoles. Xbox boss Phil Spencer announced a 10-year deal between Microsoft and Nintendo on Wednesday morning. But there are doubts about its implementation. Meanwhile, a big question mark remains over a collaboration with Sony and the PlayStation console that has contributed most to the success of the shooter series over the decades.
Following its announced purchase of Activision Blizzard earlier this year, Microsoft continues to tighten the reins on the high-pricedCoD franchise. According to Spencer, the tech giant wants to “bring more games to people – however they want to play.” Accordingly, this includes signing a deal with Nintendo that is expected to allow Call of Duty to be played on its latest console, Nintendo Switch, in the near future. But headwinds are already coming from the community, which doubts the performance requirements.
Microsoft has entered into a 10-year commitment to bring Call of Duty to @Nintendo following the merger of Microsoft and Activision Blizzard King. Microsoft is committed to helping bring more games to more people – however they choose to play. @ATVI_AB
– Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) December 7, 2022
Memes are already making their way around Twitter, including pixelated images or males in polygon form. “Call of Duty News”, for example, has a clear opinion on how the latest spin-off Modern Warfare 2 would look on the Nintendo Switch. The Japanese company’s console has significantly less power to offer, as is the case on the PlayStation or Xbox, for example.
Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare II™ for the Nintendo Switch 🔥CallofDuty – MW2 pic. twitter.com/mFNZYTDnwI
– Call of Duty News (@WarzoneQG) December 7, 2022
Accordingly, others even rule out that any of the latest CoD titles will be playable on the Switch at all. For example, game titles like FIFA have been programmed differently for years to be used on Nintendo consoles. In addition, new triple-A games like Modern Warfare 2 and the battle royale Warzone 2 take up significant storage space (over 130GB).
The new Switch OLED model, for example, only has 64 GB to offer, so would be directly dependent on external memory cards. For this reason, video game analyst Daniel Ahmad comments that “the Switch 2 will have at least four SD card slots.” The last CoD games on Nintendo handheld consoles to date were on the Nintendo DS almost 15 years ago, including Call of Duty Black Ops or CoD 4: Modern Warfare. For the Nintendo Wii, Modern Warfare 3 was released in November 2011, and Black Ops II was released on the Wii U in 2016.
If there’s one thing we can glean from Microsoft’s commitment to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo consoles for the next 10 years, it’s that Switch 2 will have at least 4 SD card slots
– Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) December 7, 2022
Sony is empty-handed for the time being. However, Microsoft president added directly: “As soon as Sony wants to sit down and talk with us, we’ll be happy to work out a 10-year deal for PlayStation as well.” Since Microsoft’s takeover announcement, Sony has expressed concerns about a possible monopoly by console rival Xbox. Microsoft’s latest deal with Nintendo puts that doubt to rest, while also putting pressure on Sony – no matter what CoD looks like on Nintendo’s console.
Our acquisition will bring Call of Duty to more gamers and more platforms than ever before. That’s good for competition and good for consumers. Thank you @Nintendo Any day @Sony wants to sit down and talk, we’ll be happy to hammer out a 10-year deal for PlayStation as well. https://t.co/m1IQxdeo6n
– Brad Smith (@BradSmi) December 7, 2022
