Xbox games boss Phil Spencer finally gives us a clearer idea of how Call of Duty will perform on the Nintendo Switch, admitting that it won't compare to other platforms. This comes after Microsoft and Nintendo reached a deal to ensure Call of Duty releases on at least one rival platform, albeit one far less powerful than Xbox's own hardware.

Spencer's comments come as part of his evidence to the FTC, speaking on the second day of the trial triggered by the regulatory body's objections to the Activision Blizzard acquisition. During the trial, almost every area of the acquisition and the gaming market as a whole is being put under a microscope, compelling Spencer and other Xbox figures to shed more light on details that the FTC has found problematic - including the Switch's capacity to support Call of Duty.

Speaking about the Nintendo Call of Duty deal, the FTC asks Spencer whether the games will "look the same to the player" on Switch and Xbox. Spencer diplomatically answers that these Call of Duty ports will instead be of "equal or better quality" to other Switch games, not their Xbox counterparts (transcript courtesy of journalist Derek Strickland).

Spencer confirms that COD's target performance on Switch would be relative to other Switch games, not relative to Call of Duty's performance on other platforms like PlayStation, Xbox, or PC.

— Derek Strickland (@DeekeTweak) June 23, 2023

Spencer goes on to explain what he expects from these ports: "I think it will play as a great Switch game. I don't think it will look the same [as Xbox]." He also says it will be comparable to other Switch games, not the releases on Xbox, PlayStation, or PC.

Of course, most of us in the gaming community had known this already, even if Xbox wasn't particularly forthcoming with this assessment. By virtue of it being a hybrid console that launched years before PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, the Switch is naturally the weakest of the bunch. Any multiplatform game that gets a Switch release has to compromise in many areas, typically through both the visuals and the framerate. That's if the game even gets a Switch port, as it's fairly commonplace for a multiplatform release to skip the Nintendo console altogether, instead targeting Xbox and PlayStation.

The FTC didn't go as far in its doubts as the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which doesn't believe that Call of Duty can run on the Switch at all. It has previously been reported that these ports will be playable via online cloud streaming, which would help the games break through the Switch limitations. It remains to be seen how these ports are actually pulled off through.



Posted: Jun 26, 2023 8:32 pm
Related Forum: Xbox Forum

Source: https://www.thegamer.com/xbox-finally-admits-call-of-duty-will-run-worse-on-switch/