According to the CMA, the UK's market authority, the Nintendo Switch may be entirely incapable of running the contemporary Call of Duty games, presenting yet another potential stumbling block for Microsoft's ongoing attempts at acquiring Activision Blizzard. The regulator has been sitting in stark opposition to the massive deal from the very start, and this doesn't seem likely to change just yet.
As one of the most prominent franchises in the comprehensive Activision Blizzard portfolio, Call of Duty has proven its worth time and again, warranting its blockbuster status almost every single time a new entry comes out. Its performance, however, means that COD is a particularly noteworthy point of contention in the context of Microsoft's potential acquisition of the publisher/developer.
While Microsoft claims Switch can run Call of Duty games just fine, the UK's Competition and Markets Authority believes otherwise. Exputer recently reported on the CMA's latest provisional findings report, where the regulator plainly states that "the Nintendo Switch [...] may not be capable of offering certain graphically intensive multiplayer games (such as COD)" due to its hardware limitations. The CMA believes that Activision will find it difficult to offer a user experience competitive to other contemporary consoles, and mentions that the Switch's subpar storage capacity may end up being a problem as well.
It's worth pointing out that Xbox and Nintendo signed a game launch agreement not long ago, in which Microsoft promised to deliver future Call of Duty titles to Nintendo devices day-and-date with Xbox Series and PlayStation 5 consoles. This was an admirable feat that's made all the more curious by the fact that it's a binding 10-year contract. Of course, both companies have been careful not to mention any specific Nintendo devices outright, meaning that it's entirely possible that these plans may have been made with a more powerful Switch replacement in mind.
Call of Duty is no stranger to last-gen visual downgrades, of course. The COD: Black Ops 3 downgrades, in particular, were a sore spot for the franchise, with Xbox 360 players getting a product that was severely stunted in almost every way compared to the cutting-edge Xbox One version of the game. The CMA is likely to be aware of these downgrades, too, but its argument stands. It's hard to imagine a 100-gigabyte competitive multiplayer FPS doing well on the Switch, especially now that Activision is banking on mandatory cross-platform matchmaking on all platforms.
Rumors claim that COD 2024 may launch on last-gen consoles, for better or for worse, and it's possible that the Nintendo Switch will also receive a retrofitted and downgraded version of the game. Alternatively, the publisher may opt for a cloud-based solution instead, where Switch gamers may get to stream the game online rather than play it locally. Whatever the case may be, the CMA isn't about to let Microsoft and Activision Blizzard off the hook just yet.
Source: Exputer