It’s been well over a decade since a Call of Duty game landed on a Nintendo console, but that all changes with the launch of Modern Warfare 4. But you don’t have to wait until October to see how it performs on Nintendo Switch 2, as a select few content creators already have access to the handheld build. Not only that, but Infinity Ward confirms its working with Digital Legends to make the Switch 2 iteration a reality.
Infinity Ward praises the studio, known for porting previous entries, as players begin to check out Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 in this weekend’s beta. “Breaking boundaries once again! Infinity Ward, in partnership with Digital Legends, is developing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 natively for Nintendo Switch 2, bringing the MW series to Nintendo players for the first time in more than a decade,” a post reads on the official Call of Duty X account.
Although Infinity Ward promises there is “more to come later this summer”, YouTuber ‘BoTalksGames’ is one of the first players to start fighting on Nintendo Switch 2. Checking out new modes like Kill Block in the beta, Modern Warfare 4 runs at mostly stable 60fps, with occasional dips. He says that the Switch 2 version isn’t “perfect” by any means, but is nonetheless a “pretty impressive port.”
Looking at specific Nintendo Switch 2 features, Activision confirms that Modern Warfare 4 doesn’t support keyboard-and-mouse integration. Responding to a question about this, it says, “No, but it will support mouse mode with Nintendo Switch 2 Joy-Cons.” It’ll also receive the same updates as its console counterparts on PS5 and Xbox, meaning there’s complete content parity across each version.
More importantly, the second weekend of the Modern Warfare 4 beta finally brings Warzone to the handheld. You can experience it on Nintendo Switch 2 alongside a preview of the campaign and a taste of the multiplayer suite. I’ve already sunk a couple of hours into the MW4 beta, and so far, it’s promising. Gunplay feels punchy, with some excellent reload animations and sounds. Clunking an M4 magazine into place is especially pleasing.
Kill Block is a blast, taking the Gunfight formula into a 10v10 format across a continuously evolving map. Between rounds, the map reconfigures itself to be a mashup of popular locales from the FPS game franchise’s history, be it Crash from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2007) or Highrise from Modern Warfare 2 (2009).
Modern Warfare 4 pre-orders for Nintendo Switch 2 will open up shortly after COD Next, an annual presentation that offers the biggest look at the game yet. For those of you hoping to see more Modern Warfare 4 DMZ footage, you definitely don’t want to miss it.
