Hideo Kojima has made it clear he is not happy about the industry’s move away from physical discs. With PlayStation saying disc production will end in 2028, he described the move as something that feels less like progress and more like a loss.
At the Il Cinema in Piazza film festival, Kojima said, “Since [disc] production is ending in 2028, this is about videogames, but I grew up with physical media, so I find it really sad,” according to a clip shared by Genki on X. He added that he has been stocking up on Blu-rays and CDs.
Hideo Kojima on the end of physical disc production for video games:
"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.… pic.twitter.com/ivL989gOFd
— Genki✨ (@Genki_JPN) July 5, 2026
His concern goes beyond shelf space. Kojima said games still have one advantage over movies on streaming services because they are usually downloaded to a hard drive, which means the files remain on a player’s own hardware. Once everything goes to streaming, though, he warned that the balance changes fast.
That is the part he clearly finds troubling. In his view, streaming turns ownership into access, and access can disappear if the server side changes or the service goes away. Kojima has been thinking about digital control and preservation for a while now, including in our recent look at his views on AI, where the bigger question was still how creators and consumers keep hold of the things they make and buy.
Share your thoughts in the comments, and follow us on X, Bluesky, YouTube, Instagram.
