Microsoft has announced that it has entered a “10-year commitment” with Nintendo to bring Call of Duty to the platform.
For the longest time, Call of Duty has remained a franchise that is playable only on Xbox, Playstation and PC. There has never been an official Call of Duty title released on the Nintendo Switch. It looks like that is about to change, thanks to Microsoft's latest announcement. Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming took to Twitter to announce a 10-year-long commitment to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo following its merger with Activision-Blizzard.
There has been a lot of discourse around Microsoft's deal with Activision-Blizzard and it doesn't look like it'll stop any time soon. The company is trying to clear the deal as soon as possible but legal scrutiny is preventing this. Sony continues to protest against the deal claiming Microsoft will be closer to gaining a monopoly in the gaming industry.
Can a Nintendo Switch run Call of Duty titles?
While it's great that Microsoft has pledged commitment to bring the popular franchise to Nintendo, the Switch is one of the older consoles in the market. Many players have doubts on whether or not the Nintendo Switch can handle modern heavyweight titles. Warzone 2 and Modern Warfare II are the latest titles in the Call of Duty franchise and require advanced hardware. The Switch has struggled to run games like Apex Legends and Monster Hunter series. This is mainly because Nintendo has a habit of prioritizing first party developers and titles over third party ones, who usually end up porting their PS4/XBox One versions to the Switch.
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Microsoft is "committed" to bring more games to more people
Brad Smith, Vice Chair and President at Microsoft has quoted Spencer's Tweet claiming their acquisition will bring Call of Duty to more gamers and platforms. Spencer himself followed up by saying the Call of Duty franchise will remain on Steam. Microsoft execs are continuing to pledge and emphasize that they remain committed to make games available to larger audiences. While the Call of Duty franchise was on Steam for a long time, it is only just making its return to the platform after a hiatus. For a few years, it was only accessible through Activision's own launcher. Several government objections to the acquisition deal cite such a restriction on games as a concern.
Nintendo's Switch successor is just around the corner
According to video-game analyst, Benji-Sales, Nintendo's next-gen Switch is likely to launch sometime over the next 18 months. That means Microsoft's commitment to release Call of Duty for Nintendo could last the lifetime of Nintendo's next-gen console. This makes it a pretty big deal considering the last Call of Duty game to release on a Nintendo console was Ghosts for the Wii U.
What does this mean for Sony?
Sony has been vehemently opposed to Microsoft's acquisition of Activision-Blizzard. According to them, this gives Microsoft control over the industry's largest video-game franchise and its distribution. If Microsoft were to deny Call of Duty on the Playstation, it would alienate an entire player base from the franchise. Microsoft has been countering this by repeated claims of their commitment to bringing video games to more players around the world. This latest agreement with Nintendo only cements this claim further, throwing a wrench in Sony's arguments. It remains to be seen whether the feds will approve Microsoft's deal. It is looking likelier that the deal will go ahead with more markets around the world greenlighting the deal.
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