PlayStation's decision to end disc production for games in 2028 has unsurprisingly led to a massive amount of backlash, largely due to the implications an all-digital future holds for entitlements and actual ownership of a library of games. There have been notable voices in the industry expressing support, or at least trying to explain Sony's stance amid ongoing component shortages and related hardware price pressures, and you can key PlayStation architect Ken Kutaragi among them.

Kutaragi tells VGC at the Game Republic New Horizons event that he understands the pushback to Sony's decision, but ultimately sees it as a necessary step to navigate difficult economic headwinds.

"I understand that physical discs have become a metaphor for 'owning' games. I really understand that mentality," he says. "But nobody thinks [physical media] is necessary for a networked device like a smartphone, for example, because people feel that they will keep their content. So it’s a mentality.

"I really understand [why some people are upset], but I don’t think it’s economically reasonable. Maybe it’s a mentality issue."

There's no doubt Sony and every other hardware manufacturer in business right now is under intense pressure to keep prices as low as possible despite an unprecedented economy squeezed by AI data centers and US tariffs, but many PlayStation users see the availability of physical discs as non-negotiable, leaving Sony and others in a real predicament going into the next console generation.

Kutaragi has no direct insights into Sony's plans as he left the company in 2007, but he says he has an idea of the company's thinking in terms of hardware going forward.

Source link