Whether Xbox Game Pass will be coming to Nintendo Switch has been speculated since 2019. But Microsoft’s president Brad Smith has hinted in February 2023 that the subscription service may finally be arriving on Nintendo platforms. So then let’s explore how likely Xbox Game Pass is to arrive on Switch.
Will Xbox Game Pass be on Nintendo Switch?
There is a good chance that Xbox Game Pass will come to Nintendo Switch and future Nintendo consoles.
A tweet from Brad Smith on February 20 highlights an image that reveals Microsoft “under a binding 10-year legal agreement” is bringing Call of Duty to Nintendo players on “the same day as Xbox, with full feature and content parity.” The tweet itself expands upon that, stating that the 10-year contract extends to Xbox games and Activision titles in general.
Now, one of the only ways for graphically-intensive games like Call of Duty can function on Switch with all of its features intact is if it uses cloud streaming. A report back in 2019 suggested that the X-Cloud, which is now the Xbox Cloud Gaming service that’s in beta, would bring Xbox games and the Xbox Game Pass library to the Switch. So this new contract between Microsoft and Nintendo looks like it’s finally bringing this concept to fruition.
That said, it’s possible that only select Xbox and Activision games will make it to Nintendo Switch, leaving the Xbox Game Pass library exclusive to Microsoft platforms. Hopefully, we’ll hear more from Microsoft on how Xbox games will work on Switch in the near future.
