sonyThe announcement that he will do it. cease production of physical discs by January 2028 has had a seismic impact on the gaming industry. As gamers look forward to a disc-less future with the arrival of the PlayStation 6 (and the likelihood that Xbox Helix will do the same), everyone has been weighing in on the debate at a volume I’ve never seen before.
Celebrities like the comedian. Trevor Noah have intervened, and even fast food establishments like KFC and dominoes have jumped on the bandwagon, but now one of the industry’s most legendary creators, Hideo Kojima, has weighed in.
Speaking at the Il Cinema in Piazza Film Festival in Italy, Metal Gear and Death Stranding creator Kojima expressed deep anxiety over the erasure of physical media. His translated comments have been widely disseminated by Genki_JPN is X and we can be pretty sure that the translation is correct since Kojima himself republished it.
“You don’t actually have the data”
Kojima, a notoriously devoted cinephile and collector of physical media, didn’t hold back when asked his opinion on the industry’s push toward digital distribution.
“Since production will end in 2028, it’s about video games, but I grew up with physical media, so I find it really sad.
Currently, I’ve been buying a lot of Blu-rays, like various movies, and also CDs. The situation is different for games as they are downloaded to the hard drive, meaning the game data remains on your own hardware.
However, if things shift towards streaming in the future, that will no longer be the case. With streaming subscription services, like Netflix or Amazon, there is a server somewhere and you basically have the right to turn on the tap and when you do, the data flows. That’s how movies work on these platforms, right? You don’t download the data, you access it directly through a subscription.
And the consequence of this is that you yourself do not own the data. There are companies that own these servers and allow you to “turn on the tap” for a monthly fee. However, with nations, politics, and various ways of thinking, one naturally has to consider the possibility that if there is a change, the data it contains will stop being distributed.
And if that happens, you won’t be able to watch or play the movies and games you love. That’s what’s scary. So what is happening with video games in 2028, could also happen with movies. “I would like everyone to take that into account.”
Hideo Kojima on the end of physical disc production for video games: “Since production will end in 2028, this is about video games, but I grew up with physical media, so I find it very sad. Currently, I have been buying a lot of Blu-rays, like various movies, and also CDs.… pic.twitter.com/ivL989gOFdJuly 5, 2026
“We will not be able to freely access the movies, books and music we love.”
This isn’t the first time Kojima has talked about the shift to online-only access for entertainment. His 2001 publications They were circulating again, when he had a very similar warning for all of us:
“Over time, even digital data will no longer be owned by individuals on their own initiative. Every time there is a major change or accident in the world, in a country, in a government, in an idea, in a trend, access to it can be suddenly cut off.
We will not be able to freely access the movies, books and music we love. I would be a dispossessed. That’s what I’m afraid of. “This is not greed.”
Kojima’s words directly reflect the concerns of today’s gamers. When Sony first revealed the timeline within which it plans to kill off physical game discs, the immediate outcry focused on consumer choice and market control. Without a market for secondhand discs, publishers gain complete authority over pricing, forcing gamers to rely entirely on PlayStation sales. Whether you’ve already made the move to digital or not, this willpower impact the price of games for all.
We have already seen the consequences of the “closed tap” that Kojima warns us about. Sony recently sparked fury by revoking consumer access to more than 500 paid digital movies, proving that digital ownership is simply a temporary license.
While the PC ecosystem has safely transitioned to digital due to its open nature, community modding, and DRM-free options like GOG, consoles remain strictly closed communities.
How long will corporations accept the wants and needs of gamers?
It’s also very likely that Microsoft’s upcoming next-gen Project Helix console will drop the disc drive, but they’re building a bridge. New details about Xbox “Positron” Disc-to-Digital Program Please suggest a perfect system where physical disks can be permanently converted to digital licenses linked to your Microsoft account.
Amid all the corporate doom and gloom, there are still small victories for collectors. Halo Studios recently confirmed that the long-awaited Halo: Campaign Evolved remake will ship on an actual physical disc For both Xbox and PlayStation boxes.
But as Kojima clearly implies, these anomalies will soon become a relic of the past. When servers go down and corporate giants decide to close the valve, gamers will finally realize the true cost of convenience.
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