Yesterday, Microsoft released a blog post addressing regulatory concerns over its purchase of Activision. In that post, Microsoft said it intended to keep Activision games multi-platform, even after the current agreements that are in place with Sony have expired. Furthering the charm offensive, Microsoft president Brad Smith went on CNBC to discuss the deal. In his interview, he expressed a desire for Call of Duty games to not only stay on PlayStation but also to make their way to the Nintendo Switch.
“We’d like to bring [Call of Duty] to Nintendo devices. We’d like to bring the other popular titles that Activision Blizzard has, and ensure that they continue to be available on PlayStation, [and] that they become available on Nintendo.”
Microsoft president Brad Smith
Speculation over what will happen to Activision games, and particularly Call of Duty, once the Activision deal is complete has been rife across the industry. However, the discussion has been dominated by the question of whether or not Call of Duty will remain on PlayStation. Call of Duty actually expanding and going to other platforms like the Nintendo Switch is not something many would have considered possible. Not least because Call of Duty games have been absent from Nintendo consoles in recent years. Activision stopped releasing Call of Duty games on Nintendo consoles after Call of Duty: Ghosts on the Wii U in 2013. The company has never released a Call of Duty game on the Nintendo Switch.
As such, Brad Smith’s statement that he would like to bring Call of Duty games to the Nintendo Switch is quite a surprise. Naturally, there are no details on how Microsoft would potentially bring Call of Duty games to the Switch. It’s also unlikely that any plans will be made until after the purchase is finalized. The Switch is not as powerful as the PS4 or Xbox One so it wouldn’t be able to run those Call of Duty games without changes being made. That’s before taking into account that Call of Duty games are now favoring the even more powerful next-gen PS5 and Xbox Series X.
