PlayStation creator says he understands anger over end of discs
The creator of PlayStation says he gets why fans are holding on to discs.
Ken Kutaragi, the former Sony Interactive Entertainment chairman and group chief executive who oversaw the first three PlayStation consoles before his departure in 2007, spoke to VGC at the Game Republic New Horizons event in Middlesbrough, UK.
He said he understands frustration from some players over Sony's decision to end physical disc production. He added that Sony's handling of the change has caused some friction with game enthusiasts.
Sony Interactive Entertainment will discontinue physical game disc production for all new games releasing on PlayStation consoles starting January 2028, according to the PlayStation Blog. New games released after that date will be available on PlayStation Store, Sony's online shop, and at retailers in digital formats only. That means downloads and codes, not a disc in a box.
Sony has said the change has no impact on games already released on disc, or on games releasing on disc before January 2028. Those discs will still work.
Kutaragi told VGC he does not think it is economically reasonable for PlayStation to continue dedicating resources to discs. Pressing discs, shipping them and stocking them costs money. Selling a download avoids much of that chain.
Physical discs, he said, have become a metaphor for owning games. A disc is something you can hold in your hand. You can lend it, resell it and line it up on a shelf. A download lives inside an account.
That view is not new. As far back as 2006, Kutaragi said he believed digital distribution, the sale of games over the internet rather than on a disc, would eventually remove the need for discs.
Kutaragi is widely credited as 'The Father of PlayStation'. Since leaving Sony in 2007, he has worked away from console hardware. He served as an outside director for Rakuten, Kadokawa, SmartNews and GA Technologies. He is now chief executive of Ascent Robotics and Cyber AI Entertainment.
For fans, this means the row is about more than plastic. Kutaragi backs the business logic. He still hears the loss.
