Call of Duty on Switch 2 Shows Slower Button Response Than PS5, Testing Finds

Players on Nintendo's Switch 2 wait longer for their button presses to register in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 than players on PS5, according to new testing by Digital Foundry.

The gap is measured in input lag, the time between pressing a button and seeing the result on screen. Lag is counted in milliseconds (ms), and lower is better. In multiplayer with the Switch 2 docked to a TV, Digital Foundry measured 81ms, compared with 49ms on PS5. In portable mode, the average rose to 100ms, with results ranging from 83ms at best to 125ms at worst. The testers used wireless controllers on both consoles: the Switch 2 Pro Controller and the DualSense. Digital Foundry put docked lag on Switch 2 at 64 percent higher than on PS5, and portable lag at roughly double.

The picture is mixed on the visual side. Multiplayer runs at 60 frames per second (fps, the number of images shown each second) for most of the time. The campaign is capped at 30fps. Docked, with DLSS (an upscaling feature that fills in detail to sharpen a lower-resolution image) switched on, the game targets 900p, but it drops to 450p in busier scenes such as the Paris vehicle chase. In portable mode, the target is 720p, with drops to 360p.

IGN reported on 31 October 2026 that the lag leaves players at a competitive disadvantage, a serious problem in a fast shooter where split-second timing decides fights. Digital Foundry's written review carries a similar message in its headline, saying the input lag "needs addressing."

The game's arrival on Nintendo hardware is itself a return. Ghosts on Wii U, released in 2013, was the last Call of Duty game on Nintendo systems before this one. The return followed a 10-year deal that Microsoft offered Nintendo while it was seeking regulatory approval for its US$69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the company behind the series.

For players deciding where to play, the numbers are the headline. Digital Foundry's video on the Switch 2 version, titled Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 - Switch 2 Tech Review, goes through the test scenes in detail. The testing covers the game as it stands now.