Microsoft & Nintendo Sign Binding 10-year Deal to Release Call of Duty on Switch

Microsoft announced today that it has signed a binding deal to bring the Call of Duty Franchise to Nintendo platforms for the next 10 years.

[Obscure_Observer]

Almost there!

Welcome Nintendo!

[blackblades]

Welcome Nintendo to where?

[-Foxtrot]

To downgraded mediocre, sloppy seconds COD games

[SullysCigar]

^ What Foxtrot said - but moreover, "day and date" with xbox and PlayStation, with "full feature and content parity".... on a Switch? Did they just hamstring COD?

At the very least, I'm expecting delays due to development problems.

[The3faces]

The Xbox Family! Definitely great times ahead!

[Army_of_Darkness]

Enjoy that 720p @30fps COD...... 😏

[crazyCoconuts]

To add to Sully + fox, if Activision thought COD could be successful on the Switch, they would have made it available on that platform already.
Why wouldn't they? Either because the demand wouldn't be there for it or as you guys said they'd have to compromise too much in terms of quality of the games. Either way, MS is making a sacrifice here. I wonder if it's all worth it
Oh, just thought of this... What if they're doing it with streaming?

[Flawlessmic]

Exactly sully

This is just Ms playing politics saying hey look it'll be on Nintendo now to make them selves look better, when one Nintendo owners couldn't care less about it and 2 clearly wasn't selling enough for Activision to care either.

[rlow1]

The Switch is coming to the end of its life. I think MS knows some things about Nintendo that the rest of us don’t. New console maybe……

[agnosticgamer]

Why bash it being offered to new gamers? Same day and date release all dlc same day and date… not all people can afford the high-end systems and for them this could be the best option.

[Flawlessmic]

Welcome Nintendo?

Thanks for the laugh.

Can't say I'm looking forward to a hamstrung version of cod tbh.

People don't buy Nintendo's for cod but cool take it away at some point from the 10s of millions of people that actually do buy a certain console to play it.

[Gamer_Dude]

I believe the parity was referring to features and content, not graphics.

[Flawlessmic]

Mate, these new consoles can do so much more than a Nintendo console.

Its more than just reso and fps, it's like the jedi survivors devs came put and said, they wouldnt be able to make the game they want if they made it for older consoles aswell.

So the game will be hamstrung in one way or another, smaller spaces, no advanced physics, Ai and all sorts of other stuff that have nothing to do with reso and fps.

Anyone that believes older harder doesn't hold current gen games back is seriously fooling themselves.

[PureBlood]

^ Gamer_Dude, nobody has even implied otherwise - what's the point you're trying to make?

[Obscure_Observer]

"Welcome Nintendo?"

Yes. By signing this deal, Nintendo has positioned itself in favor of Microsoft´s acquisition of Activision/Blizzard, and, by doing so, they might benefit from it by getting more than just COD.

"Can't say I'm looking forward to a hamstrung version of cod tbh.

Nor are Nintendo. They´re not stupid.

Next month the Nintendo Switch will be a 6 year old console. So imo, Nintendo is obviously looking forward not only for COD but to all of the Xbox first party games that they can possible get, and get it ported to their next gen console, yet to be announced/revealed.

I´m expecting Nintendo´s next gen console to be superior, or at very least as powerful as the Xbox Series S, increasing their chances on getting ports for new upcoming Xbox AAA first party games, including Starfield and TESVI.

[Necr0philiac]

Nintendo Switch 2 will be out by November 2024

[JackBNimble]

Who are they taking cod away from?
And who is "they" anyway... sony or MS?
Considering MS has offered Sony a 10 year deal one could say it's Sony taking cod away by turning a deal down.

[Vengeance1138]

Do you think Microsoft just acquired Nintendo or something?? What are you even on about.

[Aloymetal]

The green camp showing its true colors once again, only reason they're cheering on this MS/Activision deal is because they know that sooner or later COD (and a few other games) won't be on PS platform. It's kinda sad since this deal won't bring anything new for the xbox fanbase, COD has been on xbox since forever but as long as it doesn't come to PS they'll be happy.

[fr0sty]

I see MS is making the rounds... "Open up that checkbook and we'll give you this aging and worn down game franchise that people won't even be playing anymore in a decade, for a decade. No, add a few more zeroes to the end... there we go..."

Not a care in the world for the fact that they are cannibalizing their own franchise by selling the rights to release gimped versions of it on weak handhelds. They've always prioritized short term profit over long term success.

[GotGame818]

Modern Warfare 2 was the biggest selling game, in 2022! Sales say you're wrong.

[AnotherGamer]

To what? They're not buying Nintendo or anything.

[Thundercat77]

Oh Nintendo... you will know the consequences of laying in bed with Microsoft.

[Obscure_Observer]

Eventually, Sony will be "laying in bed" with Microsoft as well, and you´ll be here making lame excuses for them.

"Oh, poor Sony, they had no choice but laying in bed with Microsoft because they care about us gamers".

Fun times ahead.

[darkrider]

They care? Oohhh honey....

[Flakegriffin]

You console fanboys are strange.

[notachance]

it's guys like you that actually enables MS to be this pathetic

[thesoftware730]

Sony already laid with MS,

Azura cloud service
Minecraft(Continued support)
ESO(continued support)

It's just that now MS is treating Sony like a cheap Wh***, and Sony went Master class Karen on them.....

I WANT TO SPEAK TO THE.........MANAGER!(CMA).

[ChiefofLoliPolice]

I always knew you were a fanboy. Now I'm also convinced your a moron too.

[Traecy]

Keep kissing. 🤣🤣🤣

[CrimsonWing69]

Haven’t they already been in bed with them? Ori is on the Switch and so is Minecraft…

What are the consequences of laying in bed with Microsoft, exactly?

[Aloymetal]

''What are the consequences of laying in bed with Microsoft, exactly?''
Waking up to soaked sheets or even a giant hot turd under the pillow.

[Hofstaderman]

Waking up to Phil with a ton of spent lube tubes all over the place.

[Asplundh]

Exactly. Viva Pinita on DS, Banjo in Smash and the recent 007 Golden Eye, its nothing new they've had a working relationship for a while now.

[PureBlood]

Not under these circumstances. This makes it look like - from the outside, at least - Nintendo have taken a side here... and probably a bunch of cash, knowing how MS loves to flash it and Nintendo loves to receive it. No pun intended - it is what it is!

[Hypertension140]

So now all of a sudden you Xbox guys don't care if last gen hardware holds this generation back? Jesus you fanboys are unbelievable.

[Obscure_Observer]

"So now all of a sudden you Xbox guys don't care if last gen hardware holds this generation back?"

This deal is about the next gen Nintendo console, dude. Next month the Switch will be a 6 year console. So just stop with this "holding this generation back" nonsense.

[Lightning77]

I'm not for this deal to go through or anything. But when's the last time a 3rd party multiplat game on Switch has brought down PS5 and Series X versions of games?

[Ryzza5]

Who said anything about last gen hardware? It's more likely that a new Nintendo device is expected to be revealed soon.

[Om4ever]

Why? You personaly know how it feels ?

[darkrider]

Microsoft pr campaign at full force. Over 9000. Nintendo really needs Cod... We all see the poor sales of the switch....

[onisama]

providing a games on a platform that has millions of gamers is always good...sony need try at least leaving those 3rd party games come to every platform

[darkrider]

Sony needs to try leaving 3rd party games to every platform. ... Sony isn't buying any publisher. Sony didn't buy beteshda and Activision-blizzard.... Wrong company

[ActualEngineer]

@darkrider ... the only reason Sony isn't buying any publisher, is because they can't afford to buy any publisher nor spend a long time of barely making ends meet so that they can afford to absorb a big merger. If Sony had the ability to buy a publisher then they DEFINITELY would have. Get real dude.

[SurgicalMenace]

You guys are always talking about who can and can't afford something. Sony is a billion dollar company that's been in the industry for well over 25 years. It just amazes me that individuals who are less likely to earn over 100k can determine how these companies are managed. Since they're so broke, how are they leading the pack with no money? Strange claim to be sure.

[PureBlood]

Yeah, doesn't this kind of ruin their "Well Nintendo don't seem to need COD" angle?

I'm all for choice for the people that only have Switch, but since they've committed to feature and content parity, this is not good news for ANY other gamer.

[ActualEngineer]

It's not good news for poor fanboys that can't afford to own all consoles. Also WHO EVEN PLAYS FPS WITH A CONTROLLER ?! ... get a pc.

[KillBill]

"...over 122 million Switches with 994 million copies of games had been sold for the platform."

[Father__Merrin]

It's great Nintendo users can play call of duty but it will be worst version combined with the archaic online system. I I hope it's not cross play

[Sgt_Slaughter]

This is most likely for the next Switch system, which will have PS4-or-higher graphics and DLSS to upscale to 4K when docked, which is more than sufficient for CoD.

[ActualEngineer]

It can use DLSS for the mobile edition aswell. Rendering in 720p and upscaling to full HD.

[Vengeance1138]

lmao Nintendo doesn't care if they get CoD or not, Switch cant even run CoD to any acceptable degree. This is just a facade.
Is the Switch version of port of the CoD on Android / iOS or something?

[343_Guilty_Spark]

It could run COD mobile just fine….and that is a pretty good game.

[PureBlood]

What's that got to do with anything, given they've committed to content and feature parity?

[porkChop]

In all likelihood this deal isn't about the Switch. It's about Nintendo's next console. We know it's releasing within the next year or so. By the time this acquisition finalizes it would be too late to bring anything to Switch this year.

[Knushwood Butt]

CoD was on Nintendo platforms in the past.

I ask again (as no one has answered yet). Why was CoD not already on Switch?

[Asplundh]

Poor sales of past entries on Nintendo's past systems. Either Nintendo fans weren't interested in the games in general or they weren't interested in the watered down version that they were offered due to the systems weaker hardware.

[porkChop]

Poor sales. The games were usually very poor imitations of COD, missing features, content, etc. They did the same thing with Black Ops Declassified on the Vita. People aren't going to pay top dollar for a bunch of trash slapped together.

[IRetrouk]

Wasn't this already announced in November?

[persona4chie]

It was announced they planned to, but I guess now they’ve actually signed an official contract.

[Vengeance1138]

So what will MS' excuse be if they ever do get ABK and stilll can't manage to compete with Sony? Will they cry that Sony is cheating somehow or they have more talent?

[Redemption-64]

They will say they need EA, Ubisoft, Capcom, and Atlus to compete. I personally think the problem with MS is how they mismanaged some of their studios, however since they have so much money, they solve that problem with more acquisitions. They literally have more studios than Sony and Nintendo, been so for years and still still have worse output than both Sony and Nintendo

[thesoftware730]

Vengeance, your comment is amazing.

MS will cry, and say Sony is cheating....man you are brilliant, such wit, charm, and flair all one comment.

[Vengeance1138]

Glad you enjoyed it, like & subscribe for more daily doses of harsh truths ;)

[Neonridr]

my guess is this will start with the next iteration of the Switch, not the current model. Assuming the next Switch is on par with something like the Steam Deck, no reason why it couldn't run CoD perfectly adequate.

[PureBlood]

They're not going to drop 120 million install base and it explicitly says "Switch", not simply "Nintendo". Microsoft wants to tap that sweet Switch moolah.

[Neonridr]

perhaps, I guess they could give the original Switch a watered down port to appease the masses.

[MIDGETonSTILTS17]

They’re barely competitors…. Did M$ really have to do this, or is it just meant to make Sony seem spiteful?

[crazyCoconuts]

That and to support their case that MS is bringing their games to a wider audience as opposed to being anti-competitive.

[Ristul]

Smoke and mirrors, like always with Microsoft.

[2moda5gamer]

Let's hope this involves the next switch and not the current one that's only good for ports from the Ps360 era.

[Ryuk_2007]

Not the switch, the switch 2. At least use common sense

[gold_drake]

can you imagine how poor cod would be playing on the switch?
no lan internet port, poor servers overall, and lets not forget the hardware haha

but i know that nintendo doesnt care. they have their exclusives that sell in the 10s of millions.

[Neonridr]

a Steamdeck doesn't have a LAN port, and works just fine online. Secondly, it wouldn't be Nintendo's servers, it would be Activision's. Hardware you are right about.

[gold_drake]

i swear, theres always one to mention steamdeck no matter the topic haha.

altough, i never said wlan on switch is bad. just that it doesnt have a lan port. not sure how u came to your conclusion.

[Neonridr]

why would a portable unit have a LAN port on it? defeats the purpose of it being portable then. As for the Dock, you can get a USB->LAN adapter if you really need it, but wireless works just fine assuming you have a decent home network.

[crazyCoconuts]

If I was a Machiavellian executive, I would create a contact with Nintendo where I pay them to accept this deal, along with the traditional cut that Nintendo would get with each sale. They have nothing to lose...why not accept it?
I make sure the contact supports an xcloud streaming solution so that I won't have to invest much to get it to work on Switch. I know it won't sell- even if a Switch player wanted COD the streaming would be horrible. But who cares? I just payed a relatively small amount of money for a pass to get by regulators that say I'm reducing the number of platforms COD will be on.

[thesoftware730]

It will most likely be on the cloud.

The game will already be in the GP streaming pipe, so it would make sense that that it's offered that way on Switch, essentially making it the same exact game on Xbox.

The 2nd way would be that next year Nintendo will be releasing another Switch which would be able to handle a CoD game more effectively than the Switch.

[anast]

After the 10...

[SierraGuy]

Bye bye

[anast]

Exactly.

[AmUnRa]

The deal with Nintendo was signed 9'Dec 2022, MS sayd the same to Sony, so a ten year deal for COD and Sony refused the deal. (rightfully so) Look it up if you dont believe it.
And now MS is bringing the deal with Nintendo up before they must defend them self before the EU. Somethng smells fishy....

[onisama]

No its wasn't signed at the time now its signed

[CantThinkOfAUsername]

Microsoft proposed the deal to Nintendo on December 7—Phil tweeted about it. Now it's a legal binding (aka a signed contract). They also signed a contract with Nvidia to bring Xbox games and AKB games (if the deal goes through) to GeForce Now cloud service.

It's basically Microsoft's way of saying, 'Hey, look, we're not holding games to our platform.'

[CPTN MITCHELL]

The end of call of duty had been confirmed

[Chocoburger]

Should have happened a long time ago.

[mastershredder]

You got ten gallons to fit into a shot glass. Noice.

[TheCaptainKuchiki]

10 years is a console gen lifespan. It's not as long as people think.

[VariantAEC]

It's actually longer than a single gen... since basically always.

[TheCaptainKuchiki]

Not true. PS4 is still getting games 10 years after its release. Same for PS3 and PS2. A console generation doesn't end when the new model comes out since the previous model is still on the shelves and getting new games.

[VariantAEC]

AAA 3rd party titles? Like...

[GotGame818]

Switch 2 will be out before COD releases for it. So many haters. Sheesh! Nobody is being forced to buy it for Switch. Get over it!

[rippermcrip]

I find it a bit odd they've made this agreement considering Microsoft does not own Call of Duty yet and how can they possibly know this will be doable with full features as the tweet suggests.

[crazyCoconuts]

They would make the deal contingent upon sale. Contacts can include anything you can imagine

[Wrex369]

Look at the fanboys on this site unhappy the franchise will be on more platforms than ever. If Sony wasn't the primary opposition to the acquisition they would sign a 10 year deal too. You guys just hating this because you want your designated system/s to be market lead for another 20 years. Y'all complain to just complain and this is a binding contract they're walking the walk.

[hiawa23]

Completely agree. This site is hilarious with those always looking to bash MS and the Xbox yet stroking Sony and the PS brand.

[Charlieboy333]

There is no point to this. COD is a competitive game where frame rate and response ( not to mention clarity of visuals ) is key. Who is honestly going to play this on mobile powered Nintendo hardware with all the downgrades that entails, as opposed to on a PS5, Series X or PC ?

[crazyCoconuts]

Exactly. Just designed to get the deal through

[persona4chie]

Probably unpopular opinion or whatever but if I’m not mistaken Microsoft never said they were releasing call of duty on the switch. And they never said when the deal would start. Earliest they might release cod on a Nintendo console would be 2024, since this is all new there’s no way in hell they could get a version on switch between now and release.

With that being said Nintendo is very likely to release their next console between 2024-2025. This switch is old, and they know it, they only have a few big releases this year.

Now with that being said and with Nintendo’s notorious track record of releasing underpowered consoles, there is no doubt that at best we MIGHT get series s level power and game quality console. That is docked of course, since they will likely make a switch follow up.

Also even though there is no guarantee, Microsoft would probably not release a shoddy version on Nintendo systems because that would just make them look bad and loose money tbh.

TLDR: CoD probably isn’t coming to switch, but Nintendo’s next console likely coming 2024-2025. Also at best it might be Series S level in power/performance.

[Orchard]

Great. This is huge news for gamers. It's been a long time since we've seen COD on a Nintendo platform.

This acquisition is good for gamers.

Can't wait for it to go through.

[TriniOutsider]

They're legit desperate at this point. Microsoft wants Nintendo on their side so badly at this point.

[Chris12]

It's not desperation, it's called business and happens in every business sector. The fear of fanboys is hilarious.

[hiawa23]

They are hilarious. The deal will go through. Good move MS. Opening up games to more gamers is a good thing in my book.

[Lexreborn2]

How can you sign a deal to something that isn’t even official? That seems like this is all to try and trick the regulations into thinking they are doing right by others. When 10 years is nothing in this space.

[Orchard]

"How can you sign a deal to something that isn’t even official"

You can totally sign pre-emptive contracts. It'll just have a clause in there, e.g. "This contract becomes legally binding upon the closing of the Activision-Blizzard and Microsoft merger".

"When 10 years is nothing in this space"

10 years is more than one console generation. Plus these games are now coming to new platforms which is great.

[Jdubya1986]

Thats good for Nintendo. Who cares if its downgraded mpre people can play the game which is never a bad thing.

[derek]

This is literally a repeat of what they did just before Christmas. Looks like they have nothing new to offer, there is nothing left but for the fat lady to sing.

[jznrpg]

Good way to gimp CoD . The Series S is bad enough now the Switch?

[46player]

Because the Switch isn’t actual competition.

[HeliosHex]

Hmmm...could be a sign of the new switch building on launch titles. Because I sure as hell would not play COD on the current switch.

[hiawa23]

Awesome news! MS should gladly take Sony & Nintendo's money and this will be good for the Nintendo only gamers.

[DankSinatra]

Sweet mother of echo chambers.

[hiawa23]

The Activision deal will go through and MS should put the games on as many platforms as possible. Nothing bad with giving more gamers access to play your games.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Microsoft 3rd party publisher future confirmed?

[andy85]

This is awful. How limited are future CODs going to be having to account for such old hardware (let's face is with Nintendo track record even the next console will stilll be underpowered.

[Tapani]

This is not about Nintendo or Nvidia. MS signed the 10-year deals with both companies to push the Activision acquisition forward, and to try and convince regulators they are not taking CoD away from the crowds in a decade at least. This is business politics, and Nintendo and Nvidia happily accepted the cash to have their name in the hat.

[MADGameR]

Its gonna be running at a whopping 15FPS LMAO! Get ready! That is the MS standard afterall..

[bleedsoe9mm]

Checkmate MS now by not allowing the deal Sony is taking COD away from 150 million gamers

[Charlieboy333]

How can they be signing binding deals when they don't even own Activision Blizzard yet ?

[Good-Smurf]

Enjoy gimped COD the next 10 years while fans continues to buy mostly Nintendo Exclusives and Pokemon.

[cthulhucultist]

Time to unpack my CRT monitor to support those incredible 360p resolutions with frame drops that the switch call of duty version will have.

[Binarycode]

While I don't really give a toss about COD, more of a battlefield person, although that's been a mess with 2042.

The deal shouldn't go through.

But it's funny Microsoft's new argument is that the game with be sold to 150million more ppl. Nintendo owners don't care about cod and Nvidia being the biggest ripoff GPU maker,lol.