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Sohei Niikawa, creator of the Disgaea series, is critical of PlayStation's intention to discontinue the production of physical games from 2028 onward.
In an interview with Noisy Pixel, Niikawa criticised executives who only consider the business implications when making these decisions. Niikawa himself was chief executive officer and president of Nippon Ichi Software for 13 years.
Disgaea Creator Slams Sony's Decision To Discontinue Physical Discs
"I think physical editions of games are very important. For fans, being able to keep a game they love as an object can have a great deal of value. It becomes a memory or a keepsake connected to something that matters to them," he explained. "They can also bring a physical game to an event like this and ask someone to sign it. Afterward, they can take it home, display it and decorate their room with it. Physical games are important because they carry that kind of meaning."
Sony has obviously decided to discontinue physical game production as a cost-cutting measure, because the production of physical discs is relatively expensive given how small the fraction of people who regularly buy physical games is.
"From a purely business perspective, I can understand why the people at Sony would make that decision. However, the executives who decided it have probably never experienced coming to an event like Anime Expo and have some approach them with a physical game to ask for an autograph," Niikawa continued. "I don't think they understand the feelings of those fans, and they may never have considered what physical editions mean to the people who value them."
We've seen a widespread backlash to Sony's announcement, with every social media post from the company now brigaded with comments demanding the decision to end physical games be reversed, along with an organised boycott of PlayStation Plus.
"If they're going to go as far as eliminating physical packages, they may as well eliminate the hardware too. A television would be enough. Why would you need the console? If you're going to get rid of physical games, you may as well go all the way," he said.
Though an elimination of consoles isn't explicitly happening, we are beginning to see more console/PC hybrids cropping up. Valve's Steam Machine is one such case, and Xbox's in-development Project Helix is also rumoured to be one.
There's no doubt this is an incredibly unpopular decision from Sony, but will the backlash impact the company's business enough to make it reverse course?
