Sat, October 24, 2026 at 8:45 PM UTC
Sony’s <a href="https://www.slashgear.com/2205876/sony-upsets-users-<a href="https://comicvibe.com/5-playstation-5-pro-accessories-that-arent-worth-buying-according-to-owners/” title=”5 PlayStation 5 Pro Accessories That Aren't Worth Buying (According To Owners)”>playstation-games-no-more-physical-discs-starting-january-2028/” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank”>move to stop producing physical discs upset a lot of its customer base, and now PlayStation founder Ken Kutaragi has responded to the outcry, claiming it’s not economically reasonable to continue making physical discs, and that “maybe it’s more of a mentality issue.”
Speaking to VGC, Kutaragi said connectivity has changed the circumstances surrounding game distribution. He contrasted today’s connected audience with the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 era, when network access was less widespread.
“I understand that physical discs have become a metaphor for ‘owning’ games,” Kutaragi said. “I really understand that mentality.” He went on to compare consoles to smartphones, arguing that people accept digital content on those devices without worrying they’ll lose access to it.
For context, Kutaragi hasn’t been at the company in any role since 2011, and retired as Sony Computer Entertainment’s chairman and group CEO back in 2007. However, as one of the driving forces that helped establish PlayStation as a brand and a guiding hand behind the first three console generations, his opinion still carries significant weight.
A changing media landscape
As Kutaragi suggested, the move to digital media is driven by economic realities. Though a YouGov survey from June 2026 showed that a small majority of gamers preferred physical discs, sales figures don’t reflect that preference. In terms of money spent in the United States on games in 2025, physical media represented only 2.86% of those sales (only $1.5 billion of a total $52.4 billion).
Kutaragi clarified that he understood why people were upset about the disappearance of physical media, but suggested that game companies needed to lead a pivot to more exclusively digital formats. He noted that a number of current Sony executives come from non-gaming backgrounds like streaming services, and that they may view the PlayStation as more of a content platform than a strictly video game console.
The backdrop is Sony’s announcement in July 2026 that production of physical discs for new PlayStation games will be discontinued starting in January 2028. Those new releases will instead be sold digitally through the PlayStation Store and retailers. The company did clarify that the change does not affect games released, or releasing, on disc prior to that deadline. The announcement frames the transition to changing consumer preferences, though that does little to allay the fears of players who believe that preserving physical media is important.
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