Father of PlayStation Thinks Making Physical Games Is ‘Not Economically Reasonable’ for Sony, but Understands Fan Backlash

The ongoing debate over the phaseout of physical media continues to shake the video game industry. With PlayStation planning a drastic reduction in disc-based game production by early 2028, players, collectors, and retailers have voiced intense frustration.

And now Ken Kutaragi, former CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment and widely regarded as the “Father of PlayStation”, has weighed in on the controversy.

While Kutaragi stands firmly behind Sony’s decision and acknowledges that maintaining physical formats is no longer financially viable, he understands players’ frustration and their need for true ownership.

What Did Ken Kutaragi Say About the Physical Format?

Speaking at the Game Republic New Horizons event in the UK (reported via VGC), Kutaragi brought decades of hardware and platform expertise to the discussion. He revealed that he had anticipated the decline of physical distribution as far back as 2006, coinciding with the early expansion of digital network infrastructure.

Acknowledging that Sony’s recent trajectory has created significant friction among fans, Kutaragi noted that physical media has become “a metaphor for owning games.”

He also believes that the physical format is destined to disappear, primarily due to digital dominance and because preserving it in the market is not “economically reasonable” for PlayStation and Sony.

Over the past two decades, video games have evolved from self-contained local software into fully connected, global live services. As such, digital distribution will become the standard and the physical format will disappear.

“I understand that physical discs have become a metaphor for ‘owning’ games. I really understand that mentality… 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,” he explained.

Ken Kutaragi Believes Consoles Could Also Disappear

For Kutaragi, the death of disc drives is merely the prelude to an even larger industry transformation: the eventual obsolescence of dedicated console hardware altogether. In his view, Sony views PlayStation less as a physical box and more as an end-point “content terminal.”

Drawing parallels to historical component shortages, Kutaragi highlighted today’s skyrocketing hardware costs and global supply chain pressures. Driven by rapid advancements in cloud gaming and artificial intelligence, he believes traditional home consoles as we know them may eventually vanish.

“Currently, machines are super expensive and that’s not a healthy situation… [even though] architecture has changed direction from console-based to PC-based, with the intention of making the platform easier to create, but right now PCs are so expensive. It’s the price of a car! It’s not healthy,” he concluded.