'Call of Duty' May Finally Be Coming to the Nintendo Switch

As a long-running franchise, a notable presence in esports, and a reference point for the old "violent video games are ruining our kids" boomer arguments, Call of Duty has certainly made the rounds throughout its 18-year existence. Thorughout its lifespan, the series has been on too many platforms to count. But has the series ever been on the often family-friendly Nintendo Switch?

With a concentration on historical wars and futuristic battlegrounds, Call of Duty has been a poster child for violence and bloody warfare throughout its run. The games primarily feature first-person shooting elements that put players in the middle of bullet-riddled battles and often reward them for slick virtual gunplay.

Nintendo isn't exactly known for its Mature-rated library, but have any Call of Duty games ever made it to Nintendo consoles?

The Nintendo Switch, like many of Nintendo's consoles, is typically marketed as a console that can be played with gamers of all ages. Whether you want simple and fun party titles, a cozy game sesh, or intense multiplayer game nights, it's safe to call the latest Nintendo console a party device that has a surprisingly deep backlog of games for all types of gamers.

That is, except for Call of Duty fans. To this day, there hasn't been a game from the franchise available on the Switch — but that's set to change soon.

On Feb. 21, Vice Chair and President of Microsoft Brad Smith announced on Twitter that Microsoft and Nintendo had reached an agreement that would bring all future Call of Duty games to the console.

"Microsoft and Nintendo have now negotiated and signed a binding 10-year legal agreement to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo players — the same day as Xbox with full feature and content parity — so they can experience Call of Duty just as Xbox and PlayStation gamers enjoy Call of Duty" the statement reads.

Unfortunately, there are no details at this time on when exactly the agreement will go into effect, or how the titles will accommodate for Nintendo's hardware disadvantages.

The Call of Duty franchise has made it to plenty of Nintendo's consoles in the past, both home and handheld. The GameCube saw the release of Finest Hour in 2004 and Big Red One in 2005. Many mainline titles like Modern Warfare 3 and Black Ops II were released on the Wii and Wii U, among other platforms. Call of Duty games have even been ported to the original Nintendo DS.

The absence of these games on Nintendo's consoles seems to be a question of capability rather than content. Many have noted that the Switch lacks the power to run more graphically-advanced games like the Call of Duty titles. Recent Call of Duty games are also infamous for their immense file sizes for download, such as Modern Warfare with its staggering 256GB at launch.

Though Nintendo has implemented cloud streaming to port these particularly large games to its consoles, it's unclear if this will be the course Microsoft takes when bringing Call of Duty games to the Switch or if the agreement won't go into effect until the rumored Switch 2 is released.