PlayStation Reportedly Casts Doubt on Xbox's Call of Duty Plans for Nintendo Consoles
PlayStation has reportedly cast some doubt on Xbox's ability to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo consoles such as the Nintendo Switch. Call of Duty is one of the biggest gaming franchises out there and it routinely rakes in billions of dollars every single year. It's massive and it has done that without the assistance of one of the major platforms: Nintendo. Call of Duty used to be featured prominently on Nintendo hardware with ports for the Nintendo DS, Wii, and Wii U. However, the last one was Call of Duty: Ghosts for Wii U in 2013. This entry also marked the franchise's transition to Xbox One and PS4, where the series started to get much bigger in scope and scale. Many have hoped to see the series on Nintendo Switch, but it hasn't happened.
However, earlier this week, Xbox revealed it made a deal with Nintendo to bring Call of Duty to the Japanese platform holder's consoles for a decade if the Activision deal closes. It didn't say what Nintendo platforms specifically, but the intent is to have a Call of Duty game on Nintendo hardware alongside the Xbox and PlayStation releases. However, according to a new report from MLex (via ResetEra), Sony has cast doubt on this being possible and chalks it up to "smoke and mirrors". The platform holder reportedly doesn't believe that Call of Duty could ever run on the Nintendo Switch and that trying to make it work would take years, rendering the 10-year deal meaningless. It was also noted that PlayStation reportedly believes this was done to appease regulators.
Head of Xbox Phil Spencer did note at the time that it would take some time to get into a rhythm with developing new releases for all platforms, which could mean that this would matter more for Nintendo's next console, which is likely only a few years away. Either way, Xbox is running into its own roadblocks. The FTC confirmed it will be suing Microsoft to block the Activision acquisition. It remains to be seen how effective this will be.
Would you like to play Call of Duty on a Nintendo console? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @Cade_Onder.
[H/T CharlieIntel]