Microsoft wants Call of Duty on the Nintendo Switch

Phil Spencer spoke publicly about adding the franchise to the Nintendo Switch if the acquisition goes through.

Xbox CEO Phil Spencer stated that he’d “love to see [Call of Duty] on the Switch” at the Wall Street Journal Tech Live 2022 convention.

Speaking to a crowd of people at the Tech Live 2022 convention about the ongoing Microsoft and Activision Blizzard acquisition, Phil Spencer stated Microsoft’s intent with the Call of Duty franchise (via Tom Warren of The Verge): ”Call of Duty specifically will be available on PlayStation. I’d love to see it on the Switch, I’d love to see the game playable on many different screens. Our intent is to treat CoD like Minecraft.”

Continuing on, Spencer mentioned their ambitions regarding the mobile gaming market: “This opportunity is really about mobile for us. When you think about 3 billion people playing video games, there’s only about 200 million households on console.”

Call of Duty’s latest release, Modern Warfare 2, released to mixed reception. Picture: Activision Blizzard

Call of Duty is Activision Blizzard’s largest non-mobile series, generating over $30 billion in revenue over its lifespan, according to Call of Duty analyst account CharlieIntel. That includes over 425 million Call of Duty games sold throughout its lifespan, over 125 million players in the free-to-play Warzone game mode, and over 650 million players who downloaded Call of Duty: Mobile.

Putting Call of Duty on the Switch would open the series up to a market that it hasn’t really tapped before — Aside from the Crash Bandicoot and Spyro games, the only attempt to bring Activision Blizzard titles to the Switch was Overwatch’s Legendary Edition. The only competitive shooter on the Switch with any real popularity is Splatoon 3, and the ability to play Call of Duty while on the go is definitely an interesting idea.

In other Activision news, Activision Blizzard’s request for dismissal of its sexual harassment case has been denied again, this time by the appeals court. The company is also dealing with a disturbing “rape mode” on popular game Overwatch 2, causing many to warn others away from playing the game.

Written by Junior Miyai on behalf of GLHF.