Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 on Switch 2 Has Double the Input Lag of PS5

Digital Foundry's review measured multiplayer input lag at 81ms docked and an average of 100ms in portable mode, against 49ms on a PS5 running at 60Hz. Portable results swung from 83ms at best to 125ms at worst. Both machines were tested with wireless pads, a Switch 2 Pro Controller and a DualSense, which is how most people play.

That leaves a Switch 2 player roughly 32ms behind a PS5 player when docked and about 51ms behind in handheld mode, inside lobbies that are cross-platform by default. At 60fps, 32ms is close to two frames of reaction time handed to whoever is holding the other angle.

Infinity Ward shipped the game with SBMM matchmaking as the only option at launch, after letting beta testers try open matchmaking in August. Skill-based lobbies pair a Switch 2 player with opponents of the same measured ability, then give that player a slower pad to do it with. Multiplayer creative director Joe Cecot told IGN the studio is still working on the problem.

"I don't know if there's perfecting it."

— Joe Cecot

I expected some version of this. Nintendo hardware has never been where I go for competitive or co-op shooters, docked or handheld, and Modern Warfare 4 does not move me on that. I'd still call a full Call of Duty on a handheld a bonus, just not the version I'd pick when the gunfights are the point.

Porting specialists Digital Legends squeezed the install to 88GB against 120GB on PS5 and kept the ray-marched smoke, real-time weather simulation, and updated global illumination of the other versions. Textures lose resolution up close, bump mapping drops, and screen-space reflections are gone- the same cut Series S takes. Character self-shadowing disappears in the campaign and returns in multiplayer, where visibility decides fights.

Frame-rate targets change by mode.

Docked play targets 900p with DLSS and falls to 450p during the Paris vehicle chase, while handheld sits at 720p and drops to 360p under load. VRR smooths the multiplayer dips on a supported TV, and portable play slips out of VRR range more often.

Modern Warfare 4 took its first critic reviews in the mid-80s, 84 on Metacritic and 85 on OpenCritic, against the 65 Black Ops 7 managed last year and 56 for the previous Modern Warfare. Switch 2 owners get that game with a longer gap between the stick and the screen, 13 years after Ghosts on Wii U closed out the series on Nintendo hardware.

Read also: insider NateTheHate says the port of Starfield on Switch 2 has hit development problems and would not surprise him if it were shelved, though the version was rated this summer and Bethesda has said nothing publicly.