Switch 2 Input Lag in Modern Warfare 4 Hits 100ms Portable, Double PS5’s 49ms

Call of Duty’s long-awaited return to Nintendo hardware comes with a catch for competitive players: Switch 2 input lag in Modern Warfare 4 is substantially higher than on PlayStation 5. Digital Foundry’s technical analysis puts the gap in hard numbers, and the portable results are the most striking.

The numbers behind the Switch 2 input lag

In multiplayer, Digital Foundry measured 81ms of latency with the console docked and an average of 100ms in handheld mode. The PS5 managed around 49ms. Both consoles were tested with wireless controllers, a Switch 2 Pro Controller and a DualSense. Portable mode was also inconsistent, ranging from 83ms at best to 125ms at worst.

So handheld play has roughly double the delay of PS5, while docked play adds about two-thirds more. Digital Foundry said responsiveness “simply isn’t as good as on other consoles” and called the portable lag “actually deleterious to performance.” IGN’s coverage framed this as a “competitive disadvantage” for Nintendo players, noting that no amount of trigger-finger speed can make up for a console that takes longer to register the input.

Why it matters more in multiplayer

Call of Duty multiplayer has long built its reputation on a steady 60fps, and the series’ fans tend to be sensitive to anything that tilts the playing field. Debate over PC players’ advantages in crossplay has followed the franchise for years. On that front, Switch 2 mostly holds up: it hits 60fps most of the time, though Digital Foundry noted dips in certain situations, such as looking through a riot shield’s transparent visor. Variable refresh rate support on compatible displays helps hide those drops.

Frame rate, however, isn’t the same as responsiveness. A game can look smooth and still feel sluggish, which is why the latency figures are the headline finding here.

A mostly positive port, with visual trade-offs

Digital Foundry was otherwise fairly upbeat about the port, which was developed by Digital Legends with support from Infinity Ward. The campaign is capped at 30fps and uses dynamic resolution. Docked with DLSS enabled, it targets 900p but can fall to 450p in demanding moments such as the Paris vehicle chase. In portable mode the target is 720p, dropping as low as 360p.

The two sources differ on how the docked campaign looks. Digital Foundry’s resolution figures are well below 4K, while IGN’s Simon Cardy described the campaign as running at 30fps at 4K while docked. He also called textures far less detailed than on other platforms, though he said it still felt “snappy” and was a worthwhile experience for Nintendo-only players. Readers should treat the exact resolution as unsettled between the two accounts.

How Call of Duty got here

The release is the first Call of Duty on a Nintendo console since Ghosts in 2013, a gap the sources describe as 13 or 14 years depending on how it’s counted. It exists because of Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. While seeking regulatory approval, Microsoft offered a 10-year commitment to bring the series to Nintendo platforms, a pledge then Xbox boss Phil Spencer made in December 2022.

For campaign players and casual fans, the port appears to deliver what Nintendo owners have waited over a decade for. For anyone who cares about ranked-style multiplayer, the Switch 2 input lag is the number to weigh, especially in handheld mode, where it is at its worst.

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File photo: Nintendo Switch 2-Konsole IL 20250606.png by PantheraLeo1359531, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.