Activision has shared a new statement about Call of Duty games coming to the Switch 2.
All the way back in February 2023, Microsoft signed a ten year deal with Nintendo to bring Call of Duty games to their platforms. This deal was penned before Microsoft was able to finalize their acquisition of Call of Duty, as part of Activision Blizzard King, and that was deliberate. It was a show of trust by Nintendo, to help Microsoft complete their deal.
It’s now the second year that Microsoft owns Call of Duty and Activision Blizzard King, and it doesn’t look like they are making good on their deal quite yet. It must be said, since Microsoft and Nintendo did not make the details of the deal public, we don’t know if Microsoft is breaking that agreement. There may be clauses that allow the Call of Duty teams to get to grips with the Switch 2 hardware before they actually follow through with it. If that’s the case, we may have to wait a few years before Call of Duty games do start coming to Nintendo’s platform.
Yesterday, we reported on Microsoft’s statement that they were still working with Nintendo on this situation. That suggested that there could be some technical or logistical issue holding them back from making it official. That takes us to today.
Activision shared this newer statement to GameStop regarding the issue:
We’re committed to getting the franchise on Switch. Both teams are working on it. Will share details when ready.
The statement isn’t very satisfactory, and it’s certainly a little bit confusing. Were the Call of Duty teams trying to get their games on the original Switch? Why didn’t they focus on the Switch 2, as many gamers were already expecting? Call of Duty developers likely would not be happy to hear that Activision is now planning to raise supported platforms from five to seven, with one platform in particular at a wide performance gap in the original Switch.
What it does sound like is that the Call of Duty teams didn’t get the Switch 2 dev kits early enough. Assuming that Activision made arrangements around the time Microsoft and Nintendo penned the deal in 2023, that was seemingly still not enough time to get them ready.
Now, we do expect to some degree that Call of Duty games on Switch 2 will be normalized in a few years in. The main issue here seems to be how they get things off the ground, and that may mean more waiting for Switch 2 players.
While it would be ideal for Call of Duty to support the Switch 2 at launch, maybe it’s best to avoid it if Activision can’t make a version of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 that won’t meet everyone’s expectations. If Switch 2 gamers have to wait until 2026 or 2027 to get Call of Duty games, they will have an idea of how many gamers they will cater to on the platform, as well as what other unexpected quirks the new hybrid platform will deliver to multiplayer cross-platform AAAs.
So they may be holding back for a better launch on the Switch 2. With all that said, it’s also possible that the delay isn’t that long at all, and the official announcement may come as soon as Nintendo’s next Direct.
