In the wake of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7’s announcement (the one designed to feel like a surprise Beyonce album drop), both Activision and Nintendo are said to be working on getting the long-running first-person shooter franchise on Switch. But does that mean Black Ops 7 will be on Switch 2?
Black Ops 7’s announcement trailer, below, does not include launch platform logos, but Activision has confirmed it's due out across Xbox Series X and S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and PC via “Xbox PC,” Battle.net, and Steam. No mention was made of Nintendo Switch 2.
But there’s a reason Nintendo fans were expecting Switch 2 to be on the list of Black Ops 7’s launch platforms, specifically. And it all ties into promises made back in 2023.
In February 2023, Microsoft signed a 10-year agreement to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo gamers “the same day as Xbox, with full feature and content parity.”
The agreement was part of Microsoft’s effort to get its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard over the line in the face of resistance from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and other regulators across the globe. The concern was that Microsoft might have pulled Call of Duty from PlayStation, or made the game on rival platforms inferior in some way. Promising to release Call of Duty on Nintendo consoles was designed to show Microsoft’s commitment to making Call of Duty as accessible as possible to as many gamers as possible.
Still, months after the deal with Nintendo was announced, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) blocked, the acquisition, insisting that Nintendo’s consoles weren’t technically capable of running Call of Duty.
“Nintendo does not currently offer CoD, and we have seen no evidence to suggest that its consoles would be technically capable of running a version of CoD that is similar to those in Xbox and PlayStation in terms of quality of gameplay and content,” the CMA said at the time.
Of course, Microsoft eventually won the day, and its ownership of Call of Duty is now secure. So, what about that 10-year Nintendo deal?
In a statement released to IGN, Activision said it and Nintendo were still working on bringing Call of Duty to Switch: "We’re committed to getting the franchise on Switch. Both teams are working on it. Will share details when ready."
It seems unlikely that Black Ops 7 will launch on Nintendo Switch, but a release of some description on Switch 2 is more plausible. After all, Black Ops 7, due out later this year, is still set for release on the last generation of consoles (PlayStation 4 and Xbox One).
So, when might a Black Ops 7 Switch 2 announcement be made? Perhaps Nintendo has a Direct up its sleeve, and if so, we may see the game finally confirmed there. Call of Duty has not been available on Nintendo since 2013’s Call of Duty: Ghosts for Wii U.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
