The Competition and Markets Authority has rejected Microsoft’s claim that the Nintendo Switch is capable of running the same Call of Duty games seen on the Xbox and PlayStation.
In its 415-page final report detailing its shocking decision to block Microsoft’s proposed $68.7bn Activision Blizzard acquisition, the UK regulator addressed Microsoft’s insistence that it acquire Call of Duty in its current form. and running on Nintendo consoles should this deal be approved.
“CoD is currently available on two gaming consoles – Xbox and PlayStation,” reads the CMA report.
“We found that these consoles compete closely with each other in terms of content, target audience, and console technology. We found that Nintendo’s consoles compete less closely with Xbox or PlayStation, generally with different technical specifications.” consoles, and its most popular titles tend to be more family and kid-friendly.
“Nintendo does not currently offer CoD, and we have not seen any evidence to suggest that its consoles will be technically capable of running a version of CoD that is comparable to the Xbox and Xbox One in terms of gameplay and content quality.” Similar to PlayStation.”
In February, Microsoft President Brad Smith outlined the company’s desire to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo consoles. Later that month, Microsoft announced that it had finalized a 10-year agreement to launch Call of Duty on Nintendo platforms “on the same day as Xbox, with full feature and content parity”.
Digital Foundry then addressed the question, is CoD viable on Switch? Answer: It depends on which…
In March, Microsoft went a step further and told the CMA that it believed Activision could adapt Call of Duty to run on the Switch after the regulatory body raised concerns about the console’s “technical limitations”. .
Microsoft said at the time: “The game engine powering Warzone is mature and optimized to run on a wide range of hardware devices.”
Microsoft then highlighted the Xbox One through Xbox Series X as examples, as well as Call of Duty’s ability to run on PC hardware “with GPU cards that were released as far back as 2015 (i.e., Nintendo Switch in 2017″. before its release)”.
The company stated: “The Activision development team has a long history of optimizing game performance for available hardware capabilities”, and “the parties believe 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 timed manner using standard technologies that have been used to bring games like Apex Legends, Doom Eternal, Fortnite and Crysis 3 to the Switch.
Clearly the CMA was unconvinced.
Microsoft is angry with the CMA for blocking the deal. what happens next? Read our explainer on Microsoft and Activision’s appeals process.