[GameSpot] - Call Of Duty Has A Long, Strange History On Nintendo Consoles

[343iBot]

Microsoft's recent announcement that it intends to put Call Of Duty games onto Nintendo consoles for the next 10 years came as a surprise to many. After all, the best-selling shooter franchise has not yet appeared on the Nintendo Switch, despite that console holding onto a huge portion of market share for years now.

Microsoft has entered into a 10-year commitment to bring Call of Duty to @Nintendo following the merger of Microsoft and Activision Blizzard King. Microsoft is committed to helping bring more games to more people – however they choose to play. @ATVI_AB

— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) December 7, 2022

However, the truth is that despite Nintendo's reputation as a more "kid-friendly" publisher, several COD games have appeared on its consoles in the past. In fact, it's only in the past decade or so that the Tokyo gaming giant has completely divested itself of the famed series, and we can't help but wonder if that'll change soon.

Early Call Of Duty fans may remember the days of console-exclusive spin-offs like Finest Hour and Big Red One in the mid-2000's, which came out for the GameCube, PS2, and Xbox. In fact, the first COD game was PC-exclusive, which limited its appeal. That would change in subsequent years, of course.

With the jump to the subsequent console generation, the technical gap between the Nintendo Wii and its competitors grew significantly larger. That didn't stop Activision from releasing a wide variety of COD games onto the console, including Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, World At War, Black Ops, and Modern Warfare 3.

The Wii had such a massive install base that these entries were considered quite important at the time. They lacked the technical bells and whistles of their 360 and PS3 incarnations, but they did allow you to use the Wiimote's aiming capabilities instead of a traditional dual-stick setup. And, believe it or not, some of these same entries came out on the DS as well, albeit in a very different form.

Nintendo's break with Call Of Duty really began to emerge during the Wii U era, where Activision Blizzard released both Black Ops 2 and Ghosts on the less-than-successful console. The box's lack of graphical horsepower and its slow sales caused it to become less of a priority for third-party developers, which ultimately led Activision Blizzard to pass on releasing 2014's controversial Advanced Warfare onto the new console.

This was described as a "business decision" by the publisher at the time. However, it's important to note that many big publishers were declining to port their big games to the Wii U, such as 2014's Assassin's Creed Unity. COD was merely part of this larger trend.

Ever since then, we have yet to see a Call Of Duty game on a Nintendo console, despite the continued strong sales of the Switch. It's unclear why exactly this is the case, since there are plenty of shooters on the platform, including Apex Legends, Overwatch, and Doom 2016. Given the Switch's hardware limitations, you do have to wonder how many people would choose to play the latest COD if they have any other options. However, we know that there are enough Switches in the world to justify a port of the planet's most popular shooters. Call Of Duty: Warzone 2.0 is currently one of the biggest games out there, so it definitely fits that bill.

It remains to be seen whether or not Call Of Duty will take this opportunity to return to Nintendo consoles anytime soon. Perhaps Activision Blizzard will wait for the inevitable Switch 2 to go down that road. Either way, it's clear that Microsoft is interested in the possibility.

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