One of the chipmakers behind Nintendo’s plastic game cards is walking away from ROM. Macronix is ending ROM production altogether, Nintendo Life reports via analyst David Gibson’s read of the company’s latest financial release, a move that could put more pressure on the physical-versus-digital mix for Switch and Switch 2 software even as other cartridge suppliers stay in the market.
ROM products accounted for just 5% of Macronix’s overall revenue in the third quarter of 2026, down 39% year over year. The Taiwanese firm plans to lean harder into NOR and eMMC memory instead, and it will stop breaking out ROM sales as their own line in future reports.
Gibson stresses that Nintendo still has other partners for cartridge silicon, so this is not an overnight blackout for shop shelves. Nintendo Life frames the exit as something that may nevertheless accelerate the slide toward digital downloads and Game-Key Cards. Digital already cleared more than 60% of Nintendo’s total sales in recent quarters, though that share still swings with big first-party releases, according to the same report. Eurogamer carries the same Macronix pivot.
Readers on Nintendo Life also noted that Switch 2 carts may lean on different NAND suppliers such as Rohm, which would further limit how far a single ROM exit can rewrite the next generation overnight. The cleaner read for now is capacity and pricing pressure over time, not empty endcaps next week.
Nintendo’s own financial results are due Nov. 5, and the company usually fields questions in a follow-up Q&A. Whether it addresses Macronix by name or sticks to the broader physical mix will say a lot about how seriously Kyoto is treating the supplier shift.
Physical media anxiety is already loud in a season defined by huge digital installs, including Rockstar’s confirmed GTA 6 pre-load of up to 212GB starting Nov. 10. For Switch owners who still want a cart they can lend or resell, Macronix’s exit is a warning light — not a final score — until Nintendo spells out how deep its remaining ROM and NAND bench really is.
