Earlier this year, Sony disclosed its plans to put an end to physical discs for PlayStation games in 2028. The move naturally drew backlash from players against digital-only releases. Now, PlayStation founder Ken Kutaragi has offered his two cents on the matter, and while he acknowledged the players’ frustrations, he doesn’t believe in keeping physical discs around either.
Speaking to VGC at the Game Republic New Horizons event, Kutaragi claimed that discs have become a “metaphor for owning games”. He went on to argue that this is a mentality issue, pointing out how people typically do not think physical media is necessary for networked devices like smartphones, as they feel that they will keep their content regardless. It is an odd comparison to make, since consoles and smartphones are different devices altogether, with the former being a more specialised piece of hardware. Furthermore, boiling discs down to a symbol for ownership ignores a lot of reasons some gamers may prefer physical media.
But Kutaragi’s perspective does seem to hinge on consoles becoming the equivalent to more general-purpose devices. The former Sony Interactive Entertainment chairman and group CEO suggested that PlayStation’s current leadership may be moving away from the idea of a traditional game console towards a network-connected platform for delivering content. He noted that this conflicts with what many dedicated gamers want, and that the way Sony is handling the change has caused friction with gaming enthusiasts. However, he asserted that it isn’t economically feasible for PlayStation to continue dedicating resources to discs, even though he understands the frustrations.
Of course, it is worth noting that Kutaragi has not been with Sony in a very long time, so his remarks are by no means an official statement from the brand. Kutaragi left the company in 2007 and is now the CEO of Ascent Robotics and Cyber AI Entertainment.
If you’ve been keeping up with Kutaragi’s exploits, then his comments aren’t particularly surprising. In the past, he expressed his belief that digital distribution would remove the need for physical media. He also predicted that “everything would merge with the network”.
During a keynote talk at last week’s event, he highlighted the increasing price of consumer hardware, asserting that hardware manufacturers needed to find elegant solutions. He also mentioned that utilising AI and cloud computing could eventually eliminate the need for consoles as well. Again, though, he is not speaking on behalf of Sony or PlayStation.
(Source: VGC)
