Disgaea Developer's CEO Says Talks With Sony Over Ending PlayStation Discs Could Still Change Course

The chief executive of Nippon Ichi Software, the Japanese studio behind the Disgaea series, said his company is in discussions with Sony about the end of physical PlayStation discs and suggested the outcome may not be settled, even as Sony has given no public sign that it will reverse a decision set to take effect in January 2028.

Kenzo Saruhashi, who leads Nippon Ichi and is now also president of its publishing subsidiary, NIS America, made the comments in an interview with Kotaku at PAX West, published September 25. Sony announced on July 1 that "physical game disc production for all new games releasing on PlayStation consoles will be discontinued starting January 2028," according to a post on the PlayStation Blog by Sid Shuman, a senior director of content communications at Sony Interactive Entertainment. After that date, new games will be sold on the PlayStation Store and at retailers "in digital formats only." Games released before then, or scheduled to be released before January 2028 on disc, are not affected.

Sony framed the move as a response to how people buy games. "This is a natural direction for Sony Interactive Entertainment to adapt to consumer trends as the general preference for digital media significantly outpaces physical discs," Shuman wrote. Sony recently disclosed that 82% of PlayStation game sales were digital in the April-to-June quarter, WindowsReport reported.

For Nippon Ichi, the change is significant because of how the company sells games. NIS America frequently produces elaborate limited editions that pack a disc alongside collectibles, and Kotaku noted the company briefly experimented with game-key cards on the Nintendo Switch 2, a choice that appeared unpopular with its audience. Saruhashi told the outlet that he and the company were working from the same information available to the public and did not know what other companies were doing. "But speaking for myself, I know that a big part of our business model, particularly with NISA, is producing our physical limited editions and that's an important part of our business and we, for our part, intend to continue making those physical editions and delivering the exceptional quality that our customers are expecting of us," he said.

Asked whether that would mean moving to a "code in the box" format, in which a retail package contains a download code instead of a disc, Saruhashi said it was one possibility but perhaps not the only one. "In our discussions with Sony so far, I think that they're hearing a lot of the feedback from customers and so while that may be one destination that we arrive at, it's possible that the discussion may change in the future, so we'll have to see what happens, what comes of it," he said. Sony has not commented publicly on those discussions.

The remarks come as reports circulate that Sony is gathering developer views on the plan. Tom, who runs the YouTube channel Moore's Law Is Dead, said on the Broken Silicon podcast that Sony had sent developers an unusually large survey. "There is a survey Sony sent out to developers that is, what I was told by my contacts, a bigger survey than they've sent almost ever before, if not ever before," he said, according to Destructoid. He said one question asked, indirectly, whether there is an issue with how Sony sells games physically. IGN, Destructoid and Push Square picked up the claim on September 24. Sony has not confirmed the survey, only one person has described it, and its exact wording has not been published, according to reporting on the story. A survey by itself would not signal a policy change, as GameRiv noted.

Sony's public position has not shifted. Chief Financial Officer Lin Tao confirmed this summer that the company would "cautiously move forward" with the January 2028 cutoff despite the backlash, the outlet Everything Edinburgh reported. That outlet also reported that production of discs for games released before the deadline continues but that volumes are being wound down by around 10%. Sony also reportedly did not warn publishers before the announcement, according to WindowsReport. GamesRadar wrote that Sony has no apparent plans to backtrack.

The public reaction was intense. CBC News reported that gamers flooded Sony's social media accounts with negative comments, with some vowing to stop buying PlayStation games. A petition urging Sony to keep physical games passed 100,000 signatures in July, according to GameRiv, and Everything Edinburgh later put the total above 200,000. Hideo Kojima, the creator of Metal Gear and Death Stranding, warned at a film-festival panel in Italy that the implications are "frightening," Slate reported. The retailer Iam8bit expressed "disappointment," and former PlayStation chairman Shawn Layden said he "doesn't necessarily agree" with the move, according to the same report.

Kotaku's Rebekah Valentine, who conducted the interview, said Saruhashi's comments and the reported survey made her suspect Sony might be softening slightly, but she cautioned against reading too much into either. "Saruhashi could just be being optimistic, and I find it doubtful that Sony would fully reverse its plans," she wrote. She said a more plausible outcome is that Sony finds a way to let certain companies continue making limited numbers of physical discs for special editions, though she stressed that is her own assessment rather than anything Sony has said.

For collectors and smaller publishers, the stakes go beyond individual releases. Sony does not license its disc-pressing technology to third parties, according to Everything Edinburgh, so every physical PlayStation release is one Sony must coordinate and fund. That gives the company an incentive to move to digital, which cuts overhead and gives the platform owner tighter control over distribution and pricing. Any exception for limited editions would presumably require Sony to keep some manufacturing capacity in place, something the company has not indicated it will do.

Until Sony says otherwise, the confirmed timeline is unchanged: discs for games released before January 2028 remain available, and after that date new PlayStation games will be sold digitally or, at retail, in digital formats such as download codes. What Saruhashi's comments add is a small signal that at least some publishers believe the details may still be negotiable. Whether Sony agrees remains unknown, and the company has offered no public indication that it is considering exceptions.