According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, Nintendo is delaying the delivery of 64GB Switch cartridges to outside game developers until 2019. WSJ cites several people familiar with the matter and notes that Nintendo planned to make the 64GB cartridges available to developers in the second half of 2018, but the date has now been pushed back until 2019 due to technically problems.
Sources said that the move has brought “slight disappointment” to some developers that were eagerly waiting, especially US publishers who more often need the larger 64GB capacity for their data-heavy driven games. WSJ says that those developers now “may wait” until the larger cartridges are available before releasing their games.
Right now, the Switch’s cartridges max out at 32GB. In addition, the console only comes with 32GB internal memory but has expandable memory options through microSD cards. 32GB memory isn’t really enough. For example, games like Doom require substantial download even if you buy a physical copy of the game and the entire game won’t fit on a single cartridge. Being able to have larger cartridges helps you alleviate the need for extra microSD cards and the internet downloads required by more demanding games. Right now, your only options are to either buy physical cartridges or download the games onto the Switch console.
For those who always ask why, blame the price of game carts that Nintendo charge to publishers.
32GB carts are ridiculously expensive. https://t.co/DthMIrWYl5
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) September 8, 2017
