Ken Kutaragi, the 76-year-old architect of the original PlayStation lineup, told Video Games Chronicle this week that he understands the friction Sony’s move away from physical discs has created with enthusiasts, even while maintaining that it is not economically reasonable to keep producing them.

Speaking at the Game Republic New Horizons event in Middlesbrough, the former Sony Interactive Entertainment chairman noted that physical discs have become a metaphor for ownership for many players and that current leadership, including people from streaming backgrounds like Gaikai, increasingly views the platform as a network-connected content terminal rather than a traditional console. He reiterated that he has expected this network shift since the PS2 era.

Kutaragi also observed that high hardware costs are unhealthy for the industry and suggested that console hardware could eventually become unnecessary if AI and cloud solutions advance, though he stressed the comments were not official Sony positions. The remarks follow similar comments from other former executives and come amid broader industry discussion of the transition.

Digital distribution is inevitable on paper, but the execution still manages to feel like a corporate memo that somehow made the quarterly numbers worse.