Macronix, a Taiwanese semiconductor company and a major supplier of ROM chips for physical Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 games, is phasing out its ROM business, according to senior MST Financial analyst David Gibson. He said the company plans to stop developing new ROM products and will report ROM sales separately for the final time in the third quarter.
Gibson attributed the move to the declining importance of ROM in Macronix’s business. ROM accounted for 5% of the company’s third-quarter sales, down from 26% a year earlier. The company’s chairman said capacity would instead be directed toward NOR and eMMC memory chips.
The change does not necessarily mean Nintendo will soon stop selling physical games. Gibson said Macronix is not the company’s only maker of game memory cards, so cartridge releases could continue for some time. However, he expects digital sales to gain ground at the margins, including through more Game-Key Cards, which contain a download key rather than the game itself.
Nintendo has said it intends to keep supporting physical media. In October, Nintendo Latin America vice president and general manager Bill van Zyll said the company takes consumer preferences into account and has no plans to abandon physical games. He also noted that the Switch 2 supports both physical and digital releases.
It remains unclear how Macronix’s exit will affect Nintendo’s supply and costs. The source reports that reduced ROM availability could make game-card production more expensive, potentially adding pressure on physical releases. Nintendo has already priced some games higher in physical form than digitally, while some Switch 2 releases use Game-Key Cards that require players to download the game.
Gibson cited Nintendo figures showing that digital purchases made up 61.5% of software sales from April to June, up 2.2% from the same period a year earlier. The figures point to growing digital sales, but do not establish that Nintendo is changing its stated commitment to offering physical games.
Sources: Polygon.