Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard for US$69 billion has aroused fans’ expectations on whether the “Call of Duty” series can land on the Nintendo platform. In December, Microsoft promised to bring the series of games to Nintendo’s consoles within the next 10 years after the deal closes. However, there are also concerns about whether the Nintendo Switch’s hardware performance will be able to support such a demanding game.
Amid the court battle between the FTC and Microsoft, the Xbox team has revealed some information about how Call of Duty will perform on the Nintendo Switch. According to court transcripts provided by Derek Strickland, the FTC asked about the game’s graphics performance on the Switch and Xbox. Phil Spencer, head of Microsoft’s gaming division and president of Xbox, replied that the ported version of “Call of Duty” on Switch will strive to achieve “the same or better quality than other games on this platform.” When asked if Call of Duty would look the same on the Switch as its Series X version, Spencer admitted that while the game would play very well on the Switch, it would have different visuals than the Xbox version.
Additionally, Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty confirmed that Call of Duty could run on the Switch as long as the development team adjusts graphics, assets, and frame rates accordingly.
It should be noted that the Switch itself has lower performance than the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. Therefore, when bringing multi-platform games to the Switch, there are usually compromises in terms of image quality and frame rate. Microsoft, on the other hand, currently plans to close its acquisition of Activision Blizzard on July 18, but if they lose the hearing, the company will be forced into a “three-year administrative nightmare,” says its lead attorney, Beth Wilkinson. The outcome of the hearing will effectively “determine whether the transaction can proceed”.
