Call Of Duty is coming to Nintendo Switch 2 promises Activision and Microsoft
Despite no sign of a Switch 2 launch for this year’s Call Of Duty, Activision swears it’s still working on bringing its flagship shooter series to Nintendo fans.
Back when Microsoft was trying to push through its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, one of its key arguments was that the buyout would allow for the Call Of Duty games to be released on Nintendo hardware.
Microsoft even signed a 10-year deal to bring the series to the then unannounced Nintendo Switch 2, promising future games would launch on Nintendo’s platform the same day as the Xbox and PlayStation versions, and ‘with full feature and content parity.’
And yet Call Of Duty: Black Ops 7, the first new entry in a post-Switch 2 world, is not scheduled to launch for Nintendo’s console. We’re clearly not the only one to notice this oddity as Activision has felt the need to clarify that it does intend to follow through on Microsoft’s promises.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Activision is keeping exact details to a minimum, only telling Eurogamer that ‘We’re committed to getting the franchise on Switch. Both teams [are] working on it. Will share details when ready.’
This leaves it vague as to whether Black Ops 7 will be first in line for a Switch 2 port at a later date or whether Activision will prioritise bringing its backlog to the platform. Either way, it’s not exactly the simultaneous day one support Microsoft initially promised.
It’s also unclear if Activision intends on bringing the Call Of Duty games to the original Switch, but that seems unwise. Modern Call Of Duty games are graphically demanding, so they’d be better suited to the more powerful Switch 2.
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Activision’s statement comes after Kotaku also reported that Microsoft and Nintendo are still planning on getting Call Of Duty on Nintendo hardware, with an announcement coming in the future.
It may be that Nintendo wants any sort of announcement reserved for one of its Nintendo Directs, rather than an Xbox showcase. A new Nintendo Direct is expected later this month, since the company typically holds one in June, although nothing formal has been confirmed by Nintendo.
Whether there’s actually any demand for Call Of Duty on Switch 2 remains to be seen and it was very obvious that Microsoft’s comments during the Activision Blizzard acquisition (which included newspaper ads and advertising on the Tube) was purely for their own benefit.
Call Of Duty games have appeared on Nintendo consoles plenty of times before, including the GameCube, Wii, and Wii U – as well as no less than five entries on the DS handheld.
The reason there’s no Call Of Duty on the Switch seems to be simply because previous entries haven’t sold particularly well on Nintendo formats, and so it was no longer worth the effort of trying to port them.
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