Macronix, a supplier of ROM chips used in physical game cards for Nintendo Switch and Switch 2, is gradually reducing its involvement in the business. The company will not introduce new ROM products, and the third quarter will be the last period for which it reports ROM sales separately, according to analyst David Gibson.
ROM chips accounted for 5% of Macronix’s sales in the third quarter, down from 26% in the same period a year earlier. Revenue from the segment fell 39% year over year, although it increased 9% from the previous quarter. Macronix is prioritizing NOR and eMMC production, and none of its 37.8 billion New Taiwan dollars in new investment is earmarked for ROM; the funds will go to eMMC and NAND instead.
The change does not mean Nintendo’s physical game cards are about to disappear. Gibson notes that Macronix is not the only company making memory cards for Nintendo games, so physical releases are likely to continue for some time. He expects the shift to contribute to the gradual expansion of digital sales.
Digital downloads already make up a growing share of Nintendo software sales. They represented 61.5% of software sold from April through June, compared with 59.3% in the same period a year earlier. The share has ranged from 46.1% to 67.2% over the past year, largely depending on the timing of major physical releases.
Gibson expects digital’s share to keep rising, supported by games released only digitally and greater use of Game-Key Cards, which provide a download code rather than storing the game on the card. Nintendo is due to publish results for July through September on Thursday.
Sources: Nintenderos.