A report from The Wall Street Journal claims Nintendo has postponed the release of 64GB game cards for the Nintendo Switch due to unspecified “technical issues”.
Originally expected to hit the market in Q3 2018, the delay means players will now be forced to wait until the second half of 2019 for memory guzzling titles which exceed the 32GB limit. So far, this hasn’t been a major problem as a large portion of Switch’s library consists of data-lite games, many of them even falling short of the 1GB mark:
- Super Mario Odyssey – 5.7GB
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – 13.4GB
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 6.75GB
- Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas – 280MB
- Minecraft – 512MB
- Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove – 145MB
But more recently, titles like L.A. Noire (29GB) and WWE 2K18 (32GB) have thrown a spanner in the works. Since the Nintendo Switch peaks at 32GB of internal storage space, players would need to purchase an additional memory card in order to run the game (I am suddenly haunted by the memory of not having enough free space to play The Sims Bustin’ Out on GameCube).
Nintendo still has a way to catch up to Sony and Microsoft, whose consoles already provide 50GB of internal storage. While external microSD cards do provide a quick solution to data problems—and will be mandatory for any game in the high twenties—they do require you to cough up extra cash on top of your game.
