Disgaea's creator: Without physical games, Sony doesn't need a PlayStation console

Sony's announcement that they will stop manufacturing physical games starting in January 2028 hit the gaming world like a bombshell, and since then, debates have been raging between those who think it's outrageous and those who believe digital downloads are the future.

There's also a more nuanced group somewhere in the middle who fully understand Sony's decision but, at the same time, wish the company had done more to assure players that they own their titles and had provided better backward compatibility, a bit more like Steam. PlayStation owners will simply be less protected in the future.

Now, the creator of the Japanese role-playing game series Disgaea, Sohei Niikawa, has weighed in on the matter and reached a somewhat surprising conclusion. He believes that Sony might as well discontinue the PlayStation consoles if they don't offer physical games. In an interview with Noisy Pixel during Anime Expo 2026, he says:

"I think physical editions of games are very important. For fans, being able to keep a game they love as an object can have a great deal of value. It becomes a memory or a keepsake connected to something that matters to them."

That said, he understands the business rationale behind the decision, but at the same time believes that physical games mean something to fans that executives don't quite grasp:

"From a purely business perspective, I can understand why the people at Sony would make that decision. However, the executives who decided it have probably never experienced coming to an event like Anime Expo and having someone approach them with a physical game to ask for an autograph.

"I don't think they understand the feelings of those fans, and they may never have considered what physical editions mean to the people who value them."

As a result, Niikawa says Sony might as well just discontinue the consoles:

"If they're going to go as far as eliminating physical packages, they may as well eliminate the hardware too. A television would be enough. Why would you need the console?

"If you're going to get rid of physical games, you might as well go all the way."

What do you think about this? Does he have a point?