Digital Foundry reviews Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 on Switch 2

Digital Foundry published its technical analysis of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 on Switch 2, examining the first Call of Duty release on a Nintendo console since Ghosts arrived on the Wii U in 2013. The publication tested campaign performance, multiplayer input latency, resolution scaling, and antialiasing options on Nintendo’s new handheld hardware. Digital Foundry compared the Switch 2 port to PS5 throughout its review, examining frame rates and installation size alongside rival platforms.

Modern Warfare 4 launched on Switch 2 day and date with PlayStation and Xbox counterparts as a feature-complete package on October 23. Digital Foundry said this Switch 2 edition arrives alongside its PlayStation and Xbox counterparts offering a feature-complete package. Porting specialists Digital Legends and Infinity Ward converted Modern Warfare 4 for Switch 2, preserving the complete engine feature set and cross-platform multiplayer. Digital Foundry called the conversion an impressive technical achievement for a handheld console, crediting both the external porting team and the original developer.

The single-player campaign targets 30fps across the majority of missions, with hitches during fast-paced driving sequences and occasional drops during the Paris shootout. Digital Foundry found performance holds steady once campaign gameplay begins, without stutters or slow-down during core campaign beats. Pre-rendered cutscenes can hitch while loading background assets, and initial pre-rendered videos disguise background loading, but occasionally hitch while handling assets, a problem shared with other current-gen platforms. Nintendo Everything reports that while single-player performance generally holds at 30fps, the Paris mission experiences occasional frame drops.

Competitive multiplayer targets 60fps, so Switch 2 players stay on level footing with rival platforms. During busy firefights, dense smoke, or riot shield visor views, the frame rate drops into the 50s or high 40s. Variable Refresh Rate helps smooth drops on supported displays, but handheld sessions without VRR suffer more frequent performance drops. Digital Foundry notes that VRR mitigates stuttering during online matches on compatible screens, while portable play shows more frequent dips outside VRR range.

DMZ extraction mode runs at a stable 40fps on 120Hz displays, a fluidity level sitting at the millisecond midpoint between 30fps and 60fps. Connecting Switch 2 to a 120Hz display unlocks the steady target, smoother than the 30fps campaign but below 60fps. Digital Foundry says connecting Switch 2 to a 120Hz display unlocks a steady 40fps target in the extraction mode, giving the mode a middle ground between the campaign and multiplayer frame rates on supported screen.

Multiplayer input latency measures 81ms in docked mode and 100ms in portable mode on Switch 2, versus 49ms on PS5 at 60Hz. Digital Foundry gathered the figures with the Switch 2 Pro Controller and Sony DualSense, both wireless, reflecting how most players use the hardware. The publication called the added lag deleterious to performance, especially in portable mode.

Lower frame rates increase input latency, making fine aiming, driving mechanics, and quick-time reactions feel sluggish compared to 60fps platforms. Digital Foundry states responsiveness is worse than other consoles and Switch 2 players face a competitive disadvantage due to added input lag.

Docked mode runs at dynamic 900p with DLSS, dipping to 450p in heavy sequences, while SMAA scales to a 1080p target. Native SMAA modes match the docked DLSS range while scaling up to 1080p, and handheld maintains identical feature settings outside output resolution. Handheld mode scales to dynamic 720p with dips to 360p under intense rendering loads. Digital Foundry states that Switch 2 does not change graphical features between docked and handheld modes; only the resolution baseline scales down.

Two antialiasing options are available: Nvidia DLSS and standard SMAA, with DLSS better for motion but softer in static scenes. DLSS reduces visual noise and flickering on glass or particle embers compared to SMAA T2X, while SMAA retains finer foliage and structural detail at the cost of artifacts. Digital Foundry notes DLSS reduces stair-stepping by reconstructing details from accumulated frame data, producing cleaner lines once the frame settles.

The upscaler sharpens busy uneven details such as door decals and foliage, benefiting complex surface detail on screen. Both DLSS and Filmic SMAA T2X work with the same pixel data at the same resolution, differing only in reconstruction method, as Digital Foundry’s Tom Morgan explained. The system rebuilds detail from prior frames rather than upscaling the image. Tom Morgan says DLSS handles complex surface detail more effectively than SMAA, specifically improving small decals and plant textures.

Digital Foundry flagged possible frame-rate cost or artifacts from combining Switch 2’s DLSS with the IW Engine before analyzing the full build. Switch 2 is only capable of a lite version of NVIDIA’s machine learning model for DLSS, a reduced implementation of NVIDIA’s AI upscaling technology. Tom Morgan offered an early analysis favoring DLSS in static image quality before the October 23 launch, though questions about performance cost remained unresolved.

AMD’s FidelityFX Contrast Adaptive Sharpening is available as a post-processing option alongside DLSS and SMAA on Switch 2. The Switch 2 version includes more visual options than many expected, including this AMD sharpening option.

The Switch 2 runs the in-house SMAA option by default, the developer’s own solution rather than Nvidia DLSS. Multiplayer and DMZ include a separate SMAA Nx variant alongside DLSS, letting players choose between edge clarity and image stability. Nintendo Everything notes that while SMAA Nx is available in online modes, it still struggles with transparent surfaces.

Visual cutbacks include lower-resolution textures up close, reduced bump mapping, removed screen-space reflections, lowered shadows, and removed campaign character self-shadowing. Screen-space reflections are removed on Switch 2, a cutback that also applies to Xbox Series S. Campaign character self-shadowing is removed but shadow rendering is fully restored in multiplayer to preserve competitive visibility. Digital Foundry explains that shadows are scaled back in single-player but brought back for online matches so players can see opponents clearly.

Assets are noticeably lower resolution than on other platforms when crouching, and Switch 2 shows more pop-in detail jumps. Switch 2 has more abrupt level-of-detail switchover at set distances, and some missions cut grass density and transparency effects. Nintendo Life summarizes Digital Foundry’s findings on graphical compromises, noting close-up assets and geometry appear worse on Switch 2 than on competing consoles.

The port keeps ray-marched smoke, real-time weather simulation, and updated global illumination techniques. The port retains visual features on Switch 2, such as interactive smoke, breakable glass, wall-projected video, and large numbers of non-player characters in busy urban settings. These systems carry over to the handheld version despite other graphical reductions, preserving interactive and environmental detail. The brand-new features appear across other modern platforms, and the Switch 2 version preserves them despite quality adjustments.

The Switch 2 installation size is 88GB, compared to 120GB on PS5. The 88GB footprint fits the core IW Engine feature set adjusted for Nintendo handheld hardware, smaller than the PS5 version. Digital Foundry describes the conversion as preserving the engine’s fundamental technology while reducing graphical fidelity to run on Switch 2.

The game supports cross-play and cross-progression with all other platforms. Full launch across all platforms occurred on October 23, with digital pre-orders granting early campaign access. “The Switch 2 version supports cross-play and cross-progression with all other platforms.” — TweakTown

In 2023, Microsoft signed a binding deal with Nintendo to bring Call of Duty back to its consoles during Activision Blizzard regulatory review. Microsoft sought regulatory approval for its acquisition of Activision Blizzard and used the deal to confirm Call of Duty would remain multiplatform.

Activision said Nintendo is “all in” on Call of Duty for Switch 2.

Early hands-on impressions of Modern Warfare 4 on Switch 2 from August were not positive, though conditions improved by launch. At a review event, Nintendo Life author Gavin Lane said the game appeared to run at a solid 30fps and looked like a proper full-fledged port from Digital Legends. Nintendo Life scored the Switch 2 version 9/10 and called it “an excellent demonstration of why this crusty series still matters to so many.”

The early access Steam campaign earned a 92% Very Positive rating from more than 3,400 reviews. Players who pre-ordered the digital version received early access to the campaign before the October 23 full launch across all platforms.