# Physical Games Media Gets More Bad News as Nintendo Chip Maker Exits Business

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/physical-games-media-gets-more-bad-news-as-nintendo-chip-maker-exits-business/
- Published: 2026-11-04T17:13:30+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-05T06:53:24+00:00
- Original publisher: Polygon
- Original article: https://www.polygon.com/physical-media-nintendo-chip-manufacturer-exits-business/
- Topics: Entertainment, Gaming

## Key points

- Macronix is phasing out ROM chips used in Nintendo game cards.
- Higher costs could push more Nintendo sales towards digital.
- Nintendo says it has no plans to drop physical games.

## Summary

Macronix, Nintendo’s main supplier of ROM chips for physical Switch and Switch 2 game cards, is phasing out the business, adding pressure to physical game releases. The change could raise production costs and encourage more digital sales, although an analyst says cartridges are likely to continue for now.

ROM accounted for 5% of Macronix’s third-quarter sales, down from 26% a year earlier, and the company plans to direct limited capacity towards NOR and eMMC memory chips. Nintendo has said it has no plans to abandon physical games, while 61.5% of its software sales from April to June were digital, up 2.2% year on year. Some Switch 2 physical releases already use game-key cards that require downloading the game.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.