Nintendo’s essential Change cartridges has plans to desert the ROM portion of its enterprise, according to reporting by the Taipei Times. The Taiwanese semiconductor and reminiscence producer Macronix is phasing out its ROM manufacturing, which was confirmed by CEO Miin Wu. This might spell unhealthy information for players who love bodily media.
Macronix simply introduced a record-high web revenue of $337 million for Q3 2026, however Wu says a lot of its new clients have issued a “demand for NOR utilized in knowledge facilities.” NOR is a sort of flash reminiscence.
1/4 Nintendo’s essential reminiscence chip maker is quitting the Change enterprise
Macronix, which makes the ROM chips in Change 1 and Change 2 recreation reminiscence playing cards, is phasing out that enterprise. There will probably be no new ROM merchandise, and Q3 is the final quarter it studies ROM gross sales individually.— David Gibson (@gibbogame) November 4, 2026
The corporate’s ROM enterprise has truly declined by 39 % over the previous 12 months. This part of Macronix now accounts for simply 5 % of gross sales, down from 26 % this time final 12 months. In different phrases, the financials simply aren’t there.
There’s a silver lining right here. Macronix could also be Nintendo’s essential provider of ROM for its cartridges, nevertheless it’s removed from the one entity serving to to create bodily Change cartridges. Additionally, this does not affect Change 2 cartridges in fairly the identical means. That is as a result of the Change 2 carts use NAND flash reminiscence, a market section that Macronix is not phasing out.
Sony PlayStation FY2025 This autumn Monetary Outcomes!
• PS5 items bought – 1.5M
• Lifetime PS5 items – 93.7M
• Full recreation software program items – 74.6M
• First social gathering software program items – 5.8M
• Digital Obtain Ratio – 85%
• Month-to-month Lively Customers – 125M pic.twitter.com/ARBwBehu6b— Genki✨ (@Genki_JPN) May 8, 2026
Nevertheless, this does not look too good for the long-term sustainability of bodily recreation cartridges and discs. Digital merchandise already account for 61.5 percent of Nintendo’s software program gross sales. That is even starker once you take a look at the opposite console producers. Digital downloads make up round 85 percent of software sales on the PS5, which may account for Sony’s latest transfer to end physical media sales altogether.
Each of the above numbers pale compared to Microsoft and its Xbox division. A whopping 96 % of software program gross sales are digital on Xbox platforms. The corporate has nonetheless but to announce a plan to sundown bodily media.
