Ken Kutaragi practically willed the PlayStation into existence against the wishes and judgment of many others at Sony. His tenacity paid off. Decades after the PS1 launched, the PlayStation brand is dominant in the world of high-end console gaming. But the discs that propelled the platform to success are not long for this world, and Kutaragi thinks the death of physical PlayStation games makes sense.
“I understand that physical discs have become a metaphor for ‘owning’ games. I really understand that mentality,” he told VGC in a new interview. “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.”
He continued, “I really understand [why some people are upset], but I don’t think it’s economically reasonable. Maybe it’s a mentality issue.”
Despite Sony’s commitment to killing off discs in 2028, many die-hard PlayStation fans aren’t letting go without a fight. Part of that is nostalgia and sentimentality. Plucking discs out of cases and spinning them beneath lasers was an inseparable part of many people’s experiences with some of the most important games of the late ’90s and 2000s.
But for others, it’s a matter of ownership rights and control. An all-digital future means Sony can do whatever it wants with your copy of a game, no matter how much you paid for it. One congressman is even proposing legislation to regulate the sale of digital games to make sure players own what they buy.
While Kutaragi has been retired from PlayStation for almost two decades, he believes the writing is on the wall when it comes to a shift from hardware to cloud gaming, especially as the component cost crisis worsens. “I’m not the CEO at PlayStation anymore, but we still have some common [viewpoints]. Right now, Sony Interactive Entertainment has many people who have come from outside, like from Gaikai or streaming companies,” he told VGC. “So it’s understandable that by utilizing network connectivity [they may see] PlayStation as not just a game console, but also a content terminal. Maybe that’s how those people are thinking. But this has caused some friction with game enthusiasts.”