The "Call Of Duty" franchise could come to the Nintendo Switch in the future if Microsoft president Brad Smith has the final say about it.
Smith revealed the possibility in a recent interview, reports GamesRadar. In it, he mentioned the company's plans for the foreseeable future, which involved a renewed focus in keeping Activision Blizzard's biggest multi-platform franchises as they are, including "Call Of Duty."
Aside from reiterating that COD will still be available on PlayStation consoles, the Microsoft president has also expressed his intention to bring the franchise to the Nintendo Switch. He cited Microsoft's past acquisition of "Minecraft" creator Mojang as "proof" that they are willing to bring the franchise to more people at large.
However, Smith indicated that this could only happen if the regulators approved their $68.7 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard in the first place.
In the interview presided by CNBC, Smith reiterated that their acquisition of ActiBlizz doesn't mean they're going to restrict the embattled publisher/developer's games to Xbox consoles, as initially assumed by analysts.
But if a "Call Of Duty" Switch port will come in the near future, it will be the first time the series will do so on Nintendo platforms since 2013.
According to Nintendo Life, the last COD game released on Nintendo hardware was "Ghosts," which launched for the Wii U. But since then, the massively popular first-person shooter franchise has been exclusive on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox consoles.
However, despite Smith's proclamation, this is no clear indication that Switch players will get to experience the COD series on their handhelds anytime soon. As per Eurogamer, Activision Blizzard hasn't revealed any concrete plans to develop COD games for the Switch or any other Nintendo platforms.
As previously mentioned, the final decision will be heavily influenced by whether or not the US FTC (a notably tougher regulator) approves of the multi-billion-dollar deal, which was announced late last year.
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A Brief History Of The 'Call Of Duty' Franchise On Nintendo Hardware
Simply put, there's really not that much history connecting the COD franchise and Nintendo. Only a few games in the series were ever released on the latter's hardware, and they weren't exactly best-sellers at the time.
Aside from "Ghosts," the only COD games to release on Nintendo platforms were as follows:
- "Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare" (DS)
- "Modern Warfare 2" (DS)
- "World At War" (DS)
- "Black Ops" (DS, Wii)
In comparison, much of the COD franchise's forays on handheld devices were on smartphones, not consoles like the Switch.
Notably, there's the immensely popular "Call Of Duty Mobile." The game regularly tops iOS and Android charts in terms of downloads, as per DotESports. It was even downloaded over 2 million times in August 2021 alone, making roughly $17 million in revenue.
A potential "Call Of Duty" Switch port will be the first official release of the franchise on a true handheld gaming console since the days of the good ol' DS.
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Story posted on GameNGuide
Written by RJ Pierce
