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 Nintendo Switch.
In a filing submitted to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (via The Verge), Microsoft revealed that it believes the free-to-play Warzone and Call of Duty’s full premium releases can both have a home on Nintendo’s hybrid console.
“The game engine that powers Warzone is mature and has been optimized to run on a wide range of hardware devices (ranging from the Xbox One console released in 2015 up to the Xbox Series X),” part of the filing reads. “Warzone supports PC hardware with GPU cards that were released as far back as 2015 (i.e., prior to the release of Nintendo Switch in 2017).”
Just because the Switch is newer than the Xbox One doesn’t mean that Nintendo’s console is more powerful. In fact, it’s quite the opposite, as we’ve seen multiple games that originally released on Xbox One get native Switch ports with lowered performance and resolution to get it running on the system.
It seems Microsoft is ready for Activision Blizzard to pursue the downgraded port option as well when it comes to releasing Call of Duty on Nintendo platforms.
“The Activision development team have a long history of optimizing game performance for available hardware capabilities,” the statement reads. “The Parties are confident that in addition to Warzone, CoD buy-to-play titles (e.g., CoD: Modern Warfare 2) can be optimised to run on the Nintendo Switch in a timely manner using standard techniques which have been used to bring games such as Apex Legends, DOOM Eternal, Fortnite and Crysis 3 to the Switch.”
In addition to the games listed in Microsoft’s report, Nintendo Switch has also seen ports of games like Skyrim, Wolfenstein 2, Dark Souls Remastered, and more. It seems Microsoft won’t take the cloud version approach on Nintendo platforms, as the company said the agreement means “Microsoft will develop and publish future native console versions of CoD titles for Nintendo platforms for at least 10 years.”
The report submitted to the UK’s CMA is the latest in Microsoft’s attempts to push its acquisition of Activision Blizzard through. The back-and-forth statements from Microsoft, Activision Blizzard, and Sony have been ongoing for more than a year now, with Sony’s latest argument saying Microsoft could intentionally sabotage 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 bylines at IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine, and Lifewire. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.
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