For nearly as long as the Nintendo Switch has been available, storage space has been a noticeable issue. More than the console’s middling internal storage limits, its game cartridges have struggled to fit many larger games, often leading publishers to release physical versions of games that only come with a download code. It’s been a constant annoyance for many gamers, and it’s for this reason that many have been regarding a new report from the tech world with hope that a solution may be coming soon.
As things stand, Switch cartridges are only capable of holding up to 32GB of data currently. There’s been word of Nintendo planning to introduce 64GB cartridges for a while now, but those plans have yet to materialize on account of technical limitations. But AnandTech reports that that may be changing soon. Macronix, a Taiwan-based manufacturer of data storage products and one of Nintendo's biggest suppliers, will be shipping out its latest 3D NAND memory chips next year, and Nintendo will be one of its first customers.
In light of that information, many have assumed that this could be the first indication that Nintendo will finally be able to produce 64GB Switch cartridges in 2020. Aside from making it easier for even larger games to run on the Switch, this could go a long way towards pushing down the manufacturing costs of the console’s current higher-capacity cartridges, removing the financial hangups that have compelled games like Spyro Reignited Trilogy to only offer parts of the games on smaller and cheaper cartridges.
However, this might not actually be the case at all, because the Switch’s cartridges aren’t actually compatible with the kind of technology Macronix’s new chips boast. As tech site TweakTown points out, the 3D NAND chips in question are flash-based, meaning it supports adjustable data on the chip itself, while the Switch cartridges use Macronix’s proprietary ROM tech instead, which relegates all adjustable data (like, for instance, save files) to the console’s internal memory. TweakTown also notes that the 3D NAND chips are going to be fairly expensive, which probably wouldn’t have given publishers much incentive to use them for Switch cartridges even if they could.
If the 3D NAND chips aren’t going to be used for Switch cartridges, the question then is what Nintendo needs them for. Odds are that Nintendo is buying them up either to beef up the Switch’s internal memory or its peripherals. Both its dock and Joy-Con controllers currently utilize Macronix’s current flash-based chips, so it’s possible that the buyout (which seems to be pretty huge, according to TweakTown) is being done to ensure that they can stay current with rising tech standards over the next few years.
As of this writing, though, it’s not fully clear what Nintendo intends to use this technology for, so for now Switch users are going to have to continue contenting themselves with partial downloads for some of their physical games, and hope that nothing happens to their microSD cards in the meantime.