Microsoft has announced its confidence in getting Call of Duty to run natively on the Nintendo Switch, despite concerns raised by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) about the console’s technical limitations.

The comments come as Microsoft looks to acquire Activision Blizzard, a move that has faced opposition from some quarters who are concerned about the potential impact on competition.

To alleviate these concerns, Microsoft has sought to prove its commitment to multi-platform support by securing a 10-year deal to bring Call of Duty games to Nintendo systems.

However, the CMA has raised doubts about the feasibility of getting Call of Duty to run on the Switch. In its report, the regulator cited Activision’s internal documents, which noted the console’s technical limitations.

One document stated that producing a Call of Duty title for the Switch would require unspecified technical upgrades and that large shooter games do not run as well on Nintendo’s consoles due to technical differences.

CoD includes both the free-to-play title Warzone and buy-to-play releases. The game engine that powers Warzone is mature and has been optimized to run on a wide range of hardware devices (ranging from the Xbox One console released in 2015 up to the Xbox Series X). Warzone supports PC hardware with GPU cards that were released as far back as 2015 (i.e., prior to the release of Nintendo Switch in 2017).

The Activision development team have a long history of optimizing game performance for available hardware capabilities. The Parties are confident that in addition to Warzone, CoD buy-to-play titles (e.g., CoD: Modern Warfare 2) can be optimized to run on the Nintendo Switch in a timely manner using standard techniques which have been used to bring games such as Apex Legends, DOOM Eternal, Fortnite and Crysis 3 to the Switch. Activision estimates that this could be done with a period of around (unspecified) months.

Despite these concerns, Microsoft has stated that it believes it can port Call of Duty to the Switch without resorting to cloud-based gaming. The company pointed to other successful ports, such as Apex Legends, Doom Eternal, Fortnite, and Crysis 3, as evidence that it can make it work.

While publishers have noted that developing games for the Switch is a significantly different task compared to Xbox and PlayStation, Microsoft remains confident that it can overcome these technical differences. Its belief in the feasibility of getting Call of Duty to run natively on the Switch is seen as a key selling point as it seeks to win over regulators and complete its acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

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