Image credit: Infinity Ward, Activision.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is the first game in the series to arrive on a Nintendo console since Ghosts on the Wii U in 2013, 13 years ago. The upcoming shooter lands on Switch 2 day-and-date with PC, PlayStation and Xbox. Though there's plenty of excitement to go around, a detail has emerged that may put a damper on that.

According to independent video game retailer Video Game Plus (via Nintendo Life), the Switch 2 version of Modern Warfare 4 will be a code-in-box. This means the physical version will simply include a voucher to be redeemed once on the eShop, which locks it to that account and prevents resales.

As a result, the retailer said that it won't be selling the Switch 2 version. "The future of physical gaming should concern every physical game fan," VGP said on X. "And if it's just a box with a download code inside, VGP won't be carrying it. We believe physical games should actually be physical games."

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Activision has yet to officially announce the format of the Switch 2 version, but we've reached out to the publisher for comment. It's worth noting that we also don't know whether or not physical copies on PlayStation and Xbox will include a disc at this time.

Should the report be accurate, it would mean that Activision elected not to use Nintendo's Game Key Card system for the Switch 2 version, which bridges the gap between physical and digital by allowing publishers to skip shipping a physical card without preventing players from being able to re-sell their copy.

Broadly, this is hardly the first time a high-profile release skipped shipping a physical disc/card. Though not the first, Grand Theft Auto 6 is the biggest upcoming game to drop physical discs for PlayStation and Xbox. On Switch 2, the yet-unannounced port of Diablo 4 is seemingly also following suit.

If you're curious about how Modern Warfare 4 is going to run on Switch 2, you'll be able to try it out yourself later this week when the second leg of the beta kicks off. The beta features one campaign mission, and a suite of multiplayer maps and modes - including a first taste of Warzone.

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