The new Nintendo Switch 2 may soon be able to handle much larger games. Macronix, the company that makes the console’s game cartridges, has announced a shift to using new storage technologies, including MLC NAND and 3D NAND. This move, revealed in their 2025 quarterly earnings report, suggests that the Switch 2 could soon support cartridge sizes beyond the current 64GB limit.
This change comes at a crucial time. As reported by WIRED, new titles like Split Fiction are already requiring a substantial 69.2GB of storage. By using advanced 3D NAND technology, which can offer up to ten times the storage capacity of older 2D NAND per unit of area, Nintendo could address the growing size of modern games. This would also counter earlier criticisms that the physical media options for the original Switch were too limited.
Macronix also stated that it will use both its own MLC NAND and outsourced 3D NAND to meet “varying capacity requirements”, indicating that different game sizes will be supported. The company’s business is closely tied to the sales of game consoles and the demand for new games, and they will continue to watch these market trends.
While the new technology makes larger cartridges possible, it remains to be seen if game developers will actually use them. On the original Switch, some third-party publishers chose to save money by using smaller cartridges and requiring players to download the rest of the game. This trend of using cheaper “GameKey Cards” might continue, even with the new, larger capacity options available.
