Ken Kutaragi, PlayStation founder and former Sony chairman, has voiced his opinion on a hot topic in the gaming community: the end of physical media. As a businessman, Kutaragi believes that there is no reason to continue disc production, but he understands why gamers are upset about it. Technology continues to advance rapidly.
It has propelled the world of video games into an all-digital future, possibly causing the end of physical media. Among the big three video game console companies on the market, Sony was the first to announce it would be ditching discs in the future. Microsoft has not revealed whether the next Xbox console will include a disc drive.
Nintendo has reassured fans that it will not stop physical support. In the past few months, Sony has been the target of backlash because of its controversial stance on physical games. PlayStation creator Ken Kutaragi left the company in 2007.
Nearly two decades later, he still shares some of Sony's viewpoints but can also see gamers' side. In an interview with VGC, Kutaragi made it clear that he was adamant about creating a network-connected console from the start, seeing it as the future of the PlayStation as a platform. As network-connected consoles become more common, access to digital media increases and the need for physical discs decreases.
The problem is that, as Sony pointed out before, players don't actually own the games in their digital libraries. Buying a digital game only grants players a digital license that can be revoked at any time, while physical media gives them a copy that can't be taken away as easily. That is why "physical discs have become a metaphor for owning games," as Kutaragi put it.
Kutaragi states that with physical media, "people feel like they will keep their content," and that is why he "really understands" why gamers feel so strongly about this matter. However, as a businessman, it is clear to him that keeping physical media alive is not "economically reasonable." Ending disc production allows companies like Sony to cut costs and increase earnings, maximizing profits. Even though Kutaragi has a more sympathetic view regarding physical media, he still echoes Sony's CFO words: most sales are digital and, despite fan backlash, going all-digital "won't affect PlayStation as a business."
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