Apex Legends’ Switch 2 Version is Great News for Games Like Call of Duty, But There’s A Problem

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The Switch 1 version of Apex Legends was certainly functional and had full content parity, but it was arguably the worst way to play the game. The 30fps rate was already a tough pill to swallow, and the low resolution made the game so blurry and illegible that playing it made you feel like you had some sort of eye condition.

Luckily, the Switch 2 port of Apex Legends, handled by Iron Galaxy, is a huge technical success. The visuals look detailed and clear on both handheld and TV mode, the frame rate is a consistent 60fps (if it has drops, I haven’t noticed in my play sessions), and it even supports the Joy-Con 2 mouse functionality.

It’s an amazing way to play Apex Legends, and I’ll likely play it whenever I have downtime during holidays and trips. Both Fortnite and Apex Legends have stellar versions on Switch 2, which gives me a lot of hope that the console will become the best portable option for several popular live-service games.

Live-Service Games Can Work On Switch 2, And Apex Legends Proves It

The Switch 2 version of Apex Legends has pretty much everything that a longtime player of the game would want from a portable version: comparable visuals, multiple control options, and full cross-platform compatibility. It’s a shining example of how today’s top live-service games could look and feel on Switch 2.

Imagine bringing Marvel Rivals or Call of Duty: Warzone on the go, and being able to do your dailies and hop on quick matches with friends while you’re away from your desktop or TV. The Switch 2 has proven to be a fairly powerful portable device that should run these popular games competently. And with both motion controls and mouse capability, there are ways that Switch 2 players could have a leg up on the competition.

Supporting the Switch 2 would expand the player base for any of these games for the better, not to mention making these titles accessible for anyone who doesn’t have an Xbox, PlayStation, or gaming PC. The Switch 1 proved to be a very popular machine to play Fortnite on, especially during the period when the game was unavailable for mobile devices.

But when you consider adding a behemoth game like Call of Duty: Warzone to the Switch 2 library, there’s one concern I have, and it’s a big one.

The Problem With Live-Service Games Is Switch 2’s Storage Space

When I downloaded Apex Legends on Switch 2, I was aghast at its 78.7GB install size. By comparison, Fortnite is 39.8GB big, while Mario Kart World only takes up 21.9GB. That’s almost a third of the Switch 2’s internal storage, and twice as much as the game took up on Switch 1, which was around 31GB. That file size might not be shocking on other platforms, but the fact that third-party games are so large compared to Nintendo’s own titles is worrying.

There’s a lot of blame that can be thrown around: third-party developers for being either incapable or unwilling to compress their games, Nintendo for not providing enough storage space in the first place, or even myself and other consumers for not yet buying a microSD Express card.

Whatever the case, the excitement of having Call of Duty on Switch 2 is immediately dampened by the prospect of a potentially 100+GB install on the device. With Game Key Cards already forcing several Switch 2 owners to download games, space is going to run out quickly.

There are already a lot of obstacles and challenges that third-party studios have to tackle to find success on the budding Switch 2 platform, one being that their games might literally be too big. If Apex Legends and other games of its ilk can solve that, then the Switch 2 might become one of the best ways to play today’s hottest online games.