November is shaping up to be an exciting month for gamers, with the release of what are arguably two of the most anticipated games of the year: the remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and GTA 6. The latter, however, is not coming to Nintendo Switch 2.

However, Activision’s marketing director doesn’t believe Nintendo’s upcoming Zelda game is on the same commercial level as GTA 6 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4.

In an interview with The Game Business, Activision marketing director Tyler Bahl was asked whether the launches of the new Zelda and GTA 6 could take attention away from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, which arrives on Nintendo Switch 2 on October 23. Bahl said he believes his company’s game and Rockstar’s upcoming title are the ones most likely to benefit from the increased attention.

“Well, no offense to Zelda, but I think, you know, [GTA 6 and Modern Warfare 4] are the two biggest games of the year. and I think in a lot of ways, more people coming in to the dashboards, more people taking the dust off their Xbox or PlayStation and starting to play again, and loading up that experience is going to be more eyeballs for us, overall

And then I think at the end of the day, what makes Call of Duty last the test of time, I think, is the community and the social experience. The idea of, being able to play with your friends, right?

When we look at our research and we say ‘okay, what are the most exciting things about our games? Is it the combat or the gunplay?’ It’s actually ‘my friends are there’, right? ‘I’m able to spend time with my friends.’

And so, I think that still, we stand on our own there where being able to play with your friends on all different platforms – from Switch 2 this year, which is a new platform for us, all the way to PC and Xbox and PlayStation still – I think makes it a unique opportunity.”

According to data from Circana, Bahl’s assessment may not be entirely unreasonable. Mat Piscatella, Circana’s senior director and a video game industry analyst, stated on Bluesky that purchase intent for Modern Warfare 4 among console and PC players in the US stood at 15% in August, compared to 10% for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

However, Piscatella noted that these figures are based on the entire US console and PC gaming audience. As a result, Zelda’s lower percentage could actually be more impressive, given that fewer American players own a Switch 2 compared to a PS5, Xbox Series X|S, or gaming PC.

Thanks to VGC for the news. You can find more Nintendo news here.