"Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4" on the Switch 2: Impressive? Yes! Recommended? No!

Domagoj Belancic

23.10.2026

Translation: machine translated

Pictures: Domagoj Belancic

With "Modern Warfare 4", you can also play on the go on the Switch 2. Find out here if the port is successful or if you are better off choosing a different version.

Note: This is not a classic review with a star rating. This article merely sheds light on the quality of the Switch 2 version of «Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4». A detailed review of the game will follow.

As part of the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft signed a deal with Nintendo: «Call of Duty» is set to appear on Nintendo consoles for the next ten years. With «Modern Warfare 4», we are now seeing the first fruits of this agreement. The epic saga surrounding the iconic mustachioed Captain Price reaches a bombastic conclusion in the fourth installment – and Nintendo fans can finally join the fray.

I will reveal whether the ambitious port by Infinity Ward and support studio Digital Legends is a success – and what compromises you should expect.

Portability: Is «Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4» suitable as a handheld title?

The Switch 2 allows you to play «Modern Warfare 4» on the go. In this section, I evaluate how well the game is suited for handheld mode.

How much battery does the game consume?

To test how heavily «Modern Warfare 4» taxes the Switch 2 battery, I play the game's various modes for half an hour each in handheld mode. I start with a fully charged console. Brightness and volume are set to the maximum. Nintendo specifies a battery life of between 2 and 6.5 hours for the Switch 2. This value serves as the basis for the evaluation.

In the solo campaign, «Modern Warfare 4» consumes around 21 percent of the battery in 30 minutes. In «DMZ» mode (Wi-Fi) and in multiplayer (Wi-Fi), it is 22 percent. Extrapolated, you get about 2 hours and 10 minutes of playtime on a full charge.

This puts «Modern Warfare 4» at the lower end of Nintendo's scale. So, for longer handheld sessions, it's better to bring a charger and/or an external battery.

Are the games suitable for short sessions?

The campaign missions are short and punchy – except for one open-world mission. The game always clearly tells me where to go and what to do next. Play for five minutes and continue after a longer break? No problem.

Because it's not a given for a game like «Call of Duty»: Yes, you can also play the campaign in handheld mode without an internet connection. The game does annoy me by asking me to please turn off airplane mode, but I just ignore the message and keep playing.

If I have access to a stable internet connection in handheld mode, the multiplayer mode is also suitable for short bursts of shooting in between. The matches usually only last a few minutes. For the DMZ mode, I have to plan a bit more time – a round lasts 30 minutes or more.

Comfort on the go

The small Joy-Con 2 controllers are not suitable for the action-packed shooting gameplay of «Call of Duty». The puny analog stick in particular is annoying when aiming – compared to the Pro Controller, it is much too small, making the controls too sensitive. Although the game offers alternative control methods with mouse control and gyro aiming (see below) – I can rarely use them on the go.

The position of the minus button, which I use to call up the map or display current mission objectives, is also somewhat cumbersome. By the time I've found the small button, valuable time has passed in which I am vulnerable. On the PS5 controller, I can reach the touchpad for the map and mission objectives much more easily.

Some nighttime campaign missions also prove to be suboptimal. With the low-brightness display of the Switch 2, it's hard for me to see what's going on on the train. And playing outside is completely out of the question – the only thing I see is my frustrated face reflected in the dark Switch 2 screen.

These are the compromises you have to make

A multiplatform game on the Switch 2 comes with certain limitations. No wonder – Nintendo's handheld is tiny compared to stationary consoles. In this section, you will learn how much this affects the gaming experience.

Graphics, image quality, and performance

The graphical quality of «Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4» on the Switch 2 fluctuates between acceptable and unsightly. In general, compared to other platforms, you have to expect blurrier textures, less detailed character models, a shorter draw distance, worse lighting, and a significantly (!) lower resolution. Some effects, such as wet streets in the rain or some shadow casting, are completely missing on the Switch 2.

For the Solo Campaign, the port studio Digital Legends has opted for 30 frames per second. There is no way to switch to a performance mode with more FPS. In hectic situations with lots of action, I notice framerate drops.

I cannot get used to the low FPS target during the campaign. For me, a first-person shooter with fast camera movements is unplayable at 30 FPS.

However, the 30 FPS also have an advantage: the game offers more details and runs at a noticeably higher resolution than in the other two modes. But «higher» does not mean «high». Especially in hectic situations, I see unsightly upscaling artifacts all over the screen. The game is obviously running at a very low internal resolution and is partially aggressively upscaled. In handheld mode, the campaign looks decent in places – but on my 83-inch screen, the flickering, artifacts, and blur bother me all the more.

Particularly bizarre: «Modern Warfare 4» offers me two upscaling options: Filmic SMAA T2X and Nvidia's DLSS. I have never experienced this in a console title – and I don't want to experience it either. I play on consoles to enjoy a finished product that doesn't need optimization. In my experience, Filmic SMAA T2X produces slightly sharper images, but also more edge flickering. I took all the screenshots in this article with this upscaler.

Below you can see some screenshot comparisons from the campaign in handheld mode, TV mode, and from the PS5 Pro version. Particularly noticeable: The handheld version looks much brighter and less contrast-rich in all situations.

For the DMZ mode, «Modern Warfare 4» aims for 40 FPS. Here, too, I notice rough drops in more hectic situations. The ten additional frames per second are still clearly noticeable – a huge leap compared to the campaign. The controls feel more direct and fast camera movements no longer look as jerky as in the campaign.

In return, the image quality suffers significantly. The game runs at an even lower resolution. The result is an optic that can best be described as «smeared». Below you can see screenshot comparisons between handheld mode, TV mode, and PS5 Pro version again:

And here are some more impressions from the demilitarized zone in TV mode, without a direct platform comparison (multiplayer scenes cannot be replicated one-to-one):

In Multiplayer mode, the game even offers 60 frames per second. And hey – this target is actually met in TV mode without any major losses.

However, the stable performance also means significantly worse image quality. The game looks as if I were streaming it from the cloud and had a bad internet connection. This also has an impact on my performance – when pixelated enemies in the distance merge with the environment, it's annoying.

Depending on the game mode, my team members and enemies are animated at half or a third of the framerate. Compared to the beta version, this happens less often, at least.

This CPU-saving measure is most evident in the large multiplayer mode «Ground War», where 64 players compete against each other and many game characters are often visible on the screen at the same time.

In handheld mode, I cannot recommend the multiplayer. The framerate is well below 60 FPS and fluctuates extremely. This is not how «Modern Warfare 4» can be played competitively. The visual compromises in image quality are also even more obvious in portable mode.

Below you can see some impressions from the multiplayer in handheld mode, without a direct platform comparison (multiplayer scenes cannot be replicated one-to-one):

Below you can see some impressions from the multiplayer in TV mode, without a direct platform comparison (multiplayer scenes cannot be replicated one-to-one):

Loading times

The Switch 2 offers slower storage than the «big» consoles and PCs. In combination with a huge game like «Call of Duty», this can potentially have major negative effects.

Here you can see an overview of the loading times in the various game modes. Good news: Nintendo's small handheld doesn't have to hide from the big systems.

From boot to gameplay in mission 1

• PS5 Pro: 1 minute 50 seconds
• Switch 2 (Docked): 1 minute 55 seconds

From boot to headquarters/main menu in DMZ:

• PS5 Pro: 27 seconds
• Switch 2 (Docked): 34 seconds

From boot to multiplayer menu:

• PS5 Pro: 20 seconds
• Switch 2 (Docked): 24 seconds

Storage space

The Switch 2 storage is limited. Many developer studios know this and compress their games for Nintendo's mobile console.

For all three modes of «Call of Duty: Modern Warfare», you have to account for around 92 GB on the Switch 2. For comparison: on the PS5, it is 126 GB.

These are the advantages of the Switch 2 version

Nintendo versions of multiplatform titles do not only bring disadvantages. Many games use special features of the hardware or even offer exclusive content. In this section, you will find out if this is also the case with «Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4».

What content is (not) included?

The Switch 2 version contains all content from the «big» versions – but there is (not yet) any special Nintendo content. Crossplay with other platforms is also possible without restrictions.

The game also supports cross-progression with an Activision account. This means: at home, you can play on the PS5, for example, and on the go, you continue on the Switch 2. Warning: Cross-progression only works for DMZ and multiplayer – your save game in the campaign is not linked to your account.

What special Switch 2 features does the game use?

«Modern Warfare 4» supports both the motion sensors and the mouse function of the Joy-Con 2 controllers. Both options work excellently and can be adjusted down to the smallest detail with countless settings.

After a few hours of play, I am particularly enthusiastic about the mouse control – it is a real game changer. After some getting used to, I distribute headshots without end, quite comfortably from the sofa. In the campaign and in DMZ mode, however, I can only recommend this control option to a limited extent – the fast camera movements that are possible with the mouse do not get along well with the low FPS. In multiplayer with 60 frames per second, however, the whole thing works all the better.

A small point of criticism: Unfortunately, Activision has decided to deactivate the mouse function in the menus. A pity, because that would have significantly simplified navigation through the nested options.

Price comparison with other platforms

The standard version of «Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4» costs around 80 francs or euros on all consoles, including the Switch 2. The «Vault Edition» with additional content costs around 110 francs or euros.

You can get it cheaper on Steam – there the game costs about 70 or 100 francs or euros. Alternatively, you can get the «physical» version – you can find both the PS5 and Switch 2 versions for around 70 francs or euros in the shop. Warning: The Switch 2 case only contains a download code.

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Conclusion: «Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4» runs on the Switch 2 – barely

Infinity Ward and support studio Digital Legends have obviously made an effort to get this monster game running on Nintendo's low-power hardware. It is impressive that the small handheld can handle the game. Nevertheless, I cannot recommend this version. For me, the compromises on the Switch 2 are too great overall and the advantages too small – I love you, mouse control.

The campaign looks acceptable, but suffers from the 30 FPS limit – too little for a shooter. The DMZ mode is more playable at 40 FPS, but leaves a significantly blurrier impression. The multiplayer mode with 60 FPS is the most successful, if you can cope with the smeared optics. You will have major competitive disadvantages on the Switch 2, especially in handheld mode, where the framerate fluctuates extremely and the image appears even more pixelated and blurry.

If you are aware of the major compromises and don't care about the competitive aspect of the game, you can give this ambitious but flawed port a chance. Everyone else should prefer to go for a «big» version of «Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4».

My complete review of «Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4» will follow next week. Follow me as an author and follow the gaming topic so you don't miss anything.

Domagoj Belancic

Senior Editor

Domagoj.Belancic@digitecgalaxus.ch

My love of video games was unleashed at the tender age of five by the original Gameboy. Over the years, it's grown in leaps and bounds.

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