Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Switch 2 Upscaling: DLSS and Filmic SMAA

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 on Nintendo Switch 2 gives players a choice of two upscaling options in the Graphics settings. Nvidia DLSS is Nvidia’s AI-based upscaler that renders the game at a lower internal resolution and reconstructs the final image. Infinity Ward’s Filmic SMAA T2X is an in-house anti-aliasing solution that smooths jagged edges. The game also exposes AMD’s FidelityFX CAS (Contrast Adaptive Sharpening) as a separate post-processing slider in the Quality menu, per a Nintendo Life first look confirmed by Digital Foundry’s Tom Morgan.

Nintendo Life’s Gavin Lane reported a “locked 30fps target” in the campaign with no big frame-rate dips. He “struggled to perceive much of a difference” when switching between DLSS and Filmic SMAA, especially in hectic scenes. Morgan’s still-image analysis favors DLSS for cleaner edges on straight lines and sharper textures on door decals and foliage. Digital Foundry plans its own deep-dive on the final build; until then, the two upscalers appear to run at the same base resolution and only differ in how the final image is reconstructed. The campaign itself spans sixteen missions across the Korean Peninsula, Paris, New York, and Mumbai. See our MW4 campaign length guide for the breakdown.

The Switch 2 port is being developed by Infinity Ward in partnership with Digital Legends, the Barcelona studio also behind the mobile Respawnables games. Modern Warfare 4 launches on Switch 2 on Friday, October 23, 2026, with the digital Standard Edition priced at $69.99 and the digital Vault Edition at $99.99 on the US Nintendo eShop. A Vault upgrade is $30, and a physical Standard Edition is sold at retailers without early access. Campaign Early Access is live now for digital pre-order holders through launch day, and DMZ Early Access opens Tuesday, October 20. Our release-time guide covers unlock hours by zone.

Activision’s August 2026 Switch 2 announcement lists Joy-Con 2 mouse controls, gyro aiming, Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller support, HDR, and handheld play, plus cross-play and cross-progression with every other platform. Play modes cover TV, tabletop, and handheld. Multiplayer needs a Nintendo Switch Online membership and an Activision account, same as the August 28 Open Beta. Our editions compared breaks down what the Vault Edition adds.

Digital Legends building a flagship CoD port mirrors the studio’s earlier Respawnables lineage (a mobile shooter series designed for low-spec hardware) and the pattern of handing big Switch 2 ports to co-development partners: Capcom shipped Resident Evil 2, 3, and 4 on Switch 2 October 16 from internal teams, but Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition and Hitman: Absolution have leaned on Saber Interactive and Feral Interactive for the Switch/Switch 2 builds. The dual-upscaler choice is unusual for a 30fps console port: most Switch 2 third-party builds lock one method or lean on FSR-only, so Infinity Ward shipping both DLSS and an in-house option signals the team was chasing the cleanest image possible at a fixed 30fps rather than trading resolution for frame rate. For context, the Game Pass status guide confirms MW4 is not on Xbox Game Pass at launch, so Switch 2 is the cheapest first-party Microsoft-owned title on Nintendo hardware if you skip Game Pass entirely.

Sources: Nintendo Life upscaling article (with Digital Foundry), Nintendo Life campaign impressions, Activision Call of Duty blog Campaign Early Access post, Activision Call of Duty blog August 2026 Switch 2 announcement, Nintendo eShop Standard Edition listing, Nintendo eShop Vault Edition listing.

Edited by Kerwin Stewart, Editor-in-Chief · How we report