Visionary game designer Hideo Kojima, largely known to the mainstream as the creator of Metal Gear Solid and Death Stranding, recently chimed in on Sony's unpopular decision to stop making PlayStation discs starting in January 2028.
Kojima, a huge movie buff, was a guest of the Italian film festival Il Cinema in Piazza (which takes place annually in Rome) and answered this question with his usual thoughtfulness and keen insight. He is understandably sad, but also pointed out that this is just "step one" of the digital transition and that he finds cloud gaming even more frightening because then the data will be completely out of the consumer's hands. Here's the full quote (translated by X user Genki_JPN):
Since production is ending in 2028, this is about video games, but I grew up with physical media, so I find it really sad. Currently, I’ve been buying up a lot of Blu-rays, such as various movies, and CDs too. The situation is different for games, as they are downloaded to the hard drive, that means the game data remains on your own hardware. However, if things shift to streaming in the future, that won’t be the case anymore.
With streaming subscription services, like Netflix or Amazon, there is a server somewhere, and you essentially just have the right to turn the tap, and when you do, the data flows out. 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 that is that you don't actually possess the data yourself.
There are companies that own these servers and let you 'turn 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 inside will stop being distributed. And if that happens, you won’t be able to watch or play the movies and games you like.
That is what is frightening. So, what is happening to video games in 2028 might also happen to movies. I’d like everyone to keep that in mind.
As usual, Kojima is definitely right in that cloud licensing is even worse from a consumer standpoint. Arguably, though, movies and TV series are far ahead of gaming in the transition to the cloud, with Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and many other streaming services dominating the home scene. So far, cloud gaming hasn't really taken off in the same way.
Interestingly, Kojima did not hesitate to criticize the move despite his historically close relationship with Sony. After the game designer left Konami, Sony famously helped him set up Kojima Productions and even provided access to Guerrilla's Decima Engine for use in Death Stranding. Moreover, while his focus is now on the Xbox-funded horror game OD, Kojima has also already signed a new PlayStation exclusive, the Metal Gear-inspired Physint.
Still, it's no real surprise to anyone who knows Kojima to be an independent thinker. Even his opinion may not be enough to sway Sony, though, given that disc-making factories are already being reassigned to other tasks.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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