Nintendo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A long-running franchise where players fight in historical, modern, and futuristic battles, Call of Duty is the crown jewel in Activision’s portfolio. Its revenue has exceeded $30 billion. The latest version, Modern Warfare II, Made over $1 billion in just 10 days.
Adding a violent first-person shooter like Call of Duty to the plethora of games available on the Switch would be a surprising change for Nintendo. The company has long protected the fun, family-friendly brand it has grown over the decades through iconic franchises like Mario, Pokemon, and The Legend of Zelda, though it does offer some more mature offerings. game.
Sony and Microsoft have often sparred over similar groups of so-called hardcore gamers who may prefer darker, story-driven games or challenging and violent combat games.
But Nintendo has built an empire marketing cute, candy-colored characters like soft pink Kirby and smiling dinosaur Yoshi. At the beginning of the epidemic, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, a quiet game in which players build virtual islands, was a smash hit.
Nintendo’s latest console, the Switch, is much cheaper than Sony’s PlayStation 5 or Microsoft’s Xbox Series X, and unlike more expensive, boxier consoles, it’s small and portable so gamers can play games on the go.
The Switch has been a huge success, with 114 million units sold as of the end of September. But it doesn’t have the processing power of the latest Microsoft and Sony consoles, raising questions about what the experience of playing Call of Duty on a Nintendo device will be like.
“Nintendo has done a great job of creating a family-friendly platform that caters to all kinds of creators,” Mr. Spencer said, adding that to make Call of Duty available on the Switch, though, Nintendo does already offer some shooters. Games such as Fortnite and Call of Duty may appeal to Nintendo users who want a “flexible playstyle,” said David Gibson, a senior analyst at Australian financial services firm MST Financial. The move is “certainly good for Nintendo’s platform,” he said.
