It sounds crazy when you read the title but stick with me here. Nintendo Life is reporting that Nintendo is planning to abandon the use of discs in the development of Nintendo NX and returning to cartridges! This comes from Nintendo's traditional ROM manufacturer, Macronix, who announced a new line of chips they would be producing for the company. The exact statement comes from Japanese website Money Link...
Yesterday, non-volatile memory vendor Macronix (2337) announced that net loss per share of 0.25 yuan in the first quarter. Wu Miin, chairman of Macronix, stated that "the worst situation has passed". He expects that the company can potentially get rid of loss in the third quarter as the orders of an important customer, Nintendo, will have critical impact. The company targets a profit-loss balance annually.
In the past, Macronix sales performance usually peaked at third quarter, while declined at the fourth quarter. However, Wu Miin pointed out that because Nintendo has announced that the new platform will be launched in March next year, orders should be placed in advance. Therefore, the operating revenue of Macronix in the fourth quarter may be as good as the third quarter.
Traditionally, Macronix manufacturers the cartridges for the 3DS, but this new line of cartridges are not compatible with the system. With the March release date, it's pretty obvious these small cartridges will be for the NX. This also makes sense as the big rumor is NX will be a mobile platform as well, so having a cartridge that fits in a controller would be ideal for on the go. We still know nothing for sure, but hopefully, Nintendo shares some details at E3 because I gotta know what they're planning!
