Ken Kutaragi, the engineer who oversaw the first three PlayStation consoles, says he understands why some players are upset that Sony is ending physical disc production. He just doesn’t think keeping discs makes economic sense, and he called the backlash “a mentality issue.”
Kutaragi made the comments in an interview with VGC, published Friday, Oct. 16. VGC spoke with him at the Game Republic New Horizons event in Middlesbrough, England. The 76-year-old left Sony in 2007 and no longer speaks for the company, which he pointed out himself.
“A metaphor for owning games”
Kutaragi told VGC that Sony’s handling of the change has “caused some friction with game enthusiasts,” and he said he sympathizes with the attachment to physical copies.
“I understand that physical discs have become a metaphor for ‘owning’ games. I really understand that mentality,” he said. He compared consoles to smartphones, which nobody expects to come with physical media, “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,” Kutaragi said.
A “content terminal,” not just a console
Kutaragi suggested the shift reflects who is running PlayStation now. “I’m not the CEO at PlayStation anymore,” he told VGC, adding that Sony Interactive Entertainment “has many people who have come from outside, like from Gaikai or streaming companies.”
“So it’s understandable that by utilizing network connectivity [they may see] PlayStation as not just a game console, but also a content terminal,” he said. “But this has caused some friction with game enthusiasts.”
Those remarks are his own read on the company he left nearly two decades ago, not a statement of Sony’s plans.
Hardware prices “not healthy”
At the same event, Kutaragi gave a keynote hosted by The Game Business, where he raised concerns about the cost of hardware during the global components shortage. “Currently, machines are super expensive and that’s not a healthy situation,” he said, as quoted by VGC. “Right now PCs are so expensive. It’s the price of a car! It’s not healthy.”
He said hardware makers need to “find elegant solutions,” and that if companies use AI and cloud computing to their full potential, “we won’t need any console.” He then joked, “this isn’t an official comment from Sony Computer Entertainment!”
The idea isn’t new for him. VGC notes that in 2006 Kutaragi was already predicting that digital distribution would eventually remove the need for discs.
Sony’s move away from discs has been building for a while. RCG covered a report last month that Sony was surveying developers about ending PlayStation discs.
