L.A. Noire will cost more on Switch than Ps4 and Xbox One

[bonzobanana]

RolStoppable said:

bonzobanana said:

I think your figures for cartridges cost are too low but don't have any concrete info to back that up. Where you are and how much do usb memory sticks cost with 32GB of flash memory, many of those are manufactured at very high volumes. Macronix have to make lower volumes of game cartridges and these game cartridges have a non standard interface and the cartridges have to be programmed with the game itself. I would of guessed about $10 for a 32GB cartridge or possibly a bit more. If 32GB of flash memory really is only $5 why are we stuck with only 32GB in the Switch? Maybe a 128GB Switch is incoming if flash memory really has fallen to very low prices. Strangely I'm normally the one stating components are actually cheaper to make than many others believe. It's nice to actually be on the other side for a change.

You are comparing Switch game cards which are read-only to storage that is rewriteable. It should go without saying that rewriteable space is much more expensive.

I don't think Macronix make ROMs anywhere close to a 32GB size. Check out their ROM sizes (note the small 'b' to indicate bits not bytes).

http://www.macronix.com/en-us/products/ROM/Pages/default.aspx

The Switch cartridge storage is likely rewritable for the chip itself but the cartridge pcb would prevent write access. However I would totally accept that there is a difference between flash memory that is constantly rewritten and flash memory that only has to be written to once and read back many times. Still the exact same technology though and I doubt a huge difference in price. It's probably just the difference between more extensive batch checks or one using a manufacturer's product that performs better for a high number of read operations compared to another that works well for a higher number of write operations.  Actual ROM chips nowadays are more bootstrap type chips as they are very expensive for their capacity. If the Switch actually used read only storage for its cartridges we would be looking at manufacturing cost being much more expensive well beyond the $5-10 we are debating for a 32GB cartridge.

Also hasn't Nintendo been using rewritable flash memory for a long time. I thought some of the 3DS games had cartridge game saves by making some of the flash memory rewritable for game saves. I don't think the Switch does this probably for increased protection of the software. 

Alternatively it may be that smaller Nintendo Switch cartridges can use ROMs but larger 32GB cartridges are forced to use rewritable flash memory.