Nintendo Switch isn't "technically capable" of running Call of Duty well, CMA argues

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
(Image credit: Activision)

The Competition and Markets Authority in the UK says it has "seen no evidence" to suggest that Call of Duty can run well on Nintendo Switch. 

On April 26, the CMA blocked Microsoft's purchase of Activision Blizzard and published its final report on the acquisition. In its findings, the CMA discussed Microsoft's deal to put Call of Duty on Nintendo consoles for 10 years - once again reiterating everyone's concerns about how well the FPS game would actually run on the Nintendo Switch. 

In the final report, the CMA writes: "CoD is currently available on two gaming consoles – Xbox and PlayStation. We found that these consoles compete closely with each other in terms of content, target audience, and console technology." 

The report continues: "We found that Nintendo's consoles compete less closely with either of Xbox or PlayStation, generally offering consoles with different technical specifications, and with its most popular titles tending to be more family- and child-friendly."

"Nintendo does not currently offer CoD, and we have seen no evidence to suggest that its consoles would be technically capable of running a version of CoD that is similar to those in Xbox and PlayStation in terms of quality of gameplay and content," the CMA concludes. 

This isn't the first time the UK regulator has made this kind of statement about Microsoft's Nintendo deal. Last month, in its provisional findings, the CMA expressed its doubts that Call of Duty can run on the Nintendo Switch without "financial investment and compromises on graphical quality or the use of cloud-gaming solutions." And as we've seen before, Nintendo Switch Cloud version games certainly don't guarantee stellar performance. 

In case you were wondering, Microsoft has said Call of Duty will run "like you would expect" it to on Switch, and given the struggles of other AAA ports on the console, that isn't super encouraging. 

To catch up with everything that's happened so far, here's the Microsoft Xbox Activision deal explained

Hope Bellingham
News Writer

After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at GamesRadar+ before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training.  My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I'm also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.