Nintendo Switch could not run Call of Duty, estimates the British Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). In a report dated February 8, the authority states that “there is no certainty that Call of Duty will be available on Nintendo.”
And for good reason, “Nintendo Switch has certain technical limitations compared to the latest PlayStation and Xbox consoles”, which “must be overcome for Call of Duty to be available” on the Japanese manufacturer’s console.
The British competition authority refers in particular to storage capacity problems, which would be reported in internal documents from Activision, the game’s publisher. “An Activision document states in a preliminary assessment that, to produce a Call of Duty in Nintendo Switch, the game would need [expurgé] (whereas most current Call of Duty titles require 125-175GB of storage on console or PC),” the CMA report read.
Another limitation: “We have also found that large-scale shooters do not work as well on Nintendo consoles due to the technical differentiation of the latter,” says the British authority.
“A third party argued that graphic-intensive shooters are often originally intended for PlayStation and Xbox, and porting to Nintendo Switch may require financial investment and compromises on graphics quality, or using cloud gaming,” adds.
Finally, Nintendo Switch “may not support certain graphics-intensive multiplayer games, such as Call of Duty, and may not provide a similar user experience (for example, in terms of storage, graphics, and frame rate),” he writes. the CMA. .
Hit Microsoft
A blow to Microsoft. The American manufacturer of Xbox has been in the crosshairs of regulatory authorities in the European, American and British markets since the announcement of the acquisition of Activision Blizzard King in January 2022. These authorities are concerned about a possible imbalance in the landscape of the video game. .
The main fears focused on Call of Duty. By repossessing the franchise, Microsoft raised fears that the next few episodes of the famous franchise would only be released on Xbox consoles, bringing PlayStation maker Sony to a cold sweat.
But the American company has been repeating since the beginning of 2022 that PlayStation gamers will not be deprived of these ultra-popular games. To try to reassure himself, he even recently promised that Call of Duty titles would now be available on Nintendo Switch and the Steam platform (for PC gamers).
In February, a ten-year contract was signed between the Japanese manufacturer and Microsoft. “We are committed to providing long-term, equitable access to Call of Duty for other gaming platforms, providing more choice for more players and more competition in the video game market,” said Brad Smith, President of Microsoft.
But, despite the fact that this agreement “may be legally binding”, it is not certain that Nintendo Switch players will have access to Call of Duty, says the British regulator.
Source: BFM TV
