Microsoft has expressed confidence to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in the UK that it can optimize Call of Duty (CoD) for the Nintendo Switch console. The assurance was given in response to concerns raised by the CMA, which has been reviewing Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
The CMA had previously stated in provisional findings report that it was unsure whether Microsoft’s 10-year agreement with Nintendo to bring CoD to the Switch would lead to the game being available on the platform due to “technical limitations.” However, Microsoft has now responded to the CMA’s notice of possible remedies, stating that the game engine powering CoD Warzone has been optimized to run on various hardware devices, including those predating the 2017 release of the Switch.
Microsoft stated that it believed CoD buy-to-play titles such as Modern Warfare 2 could also be optimized to run on the Switch using standard techniques utilized to bring other popular games like Apex Legends, Doom Eternal, Fortnite, and Crysis 3 to the platform. The CMA is set to publish its final ruling on Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard on April 26th.
Last month, Microsoft signed a binding 10-year legal agreement with Nintendo, promising to provide full feature and content parity with Xbox for Call of Duty on Nintendo platforms. However, Digital Foundry’s Richard Leadbetter raised doubts about the likelihood of CoD successfully transitioning to the Switch, citing concerns about compromising the core experience with a drop to 30fps.
Microsoft believes that Activision’s development team has a history of optimizing game performance for hardware capabilities and that it could optimize CoD to run on the Nintendo Switch based on its experience with Warzone and other successful ports of similar titles.