Sony's decision to stop the production of discs for new PlayStation games in 2028 has gone down – for the most part – terribly, but the creator of the God of War series thinks that it makes sense when you consider the needs and wants of the majority of users.
There are many reasons why folks are so opposed to the decision to kill off discs and move towards a digital-only future. From game preservation and ownership issues to the impact on the second-hand game market (and the simple fact that physical copies of games tend to be cheaper in the long run than digital copies), we've seen concerns from players, devs, and publishers alike. However, others argue that from Sony's perspective, it's an understandable move.
One of those is David Jaffe, creator of the God of War series who served as director on the first two games. He agrees that "for most business owners, the customer IS always right," but that mentality gets complicated "when you have different customers wanting different things."
In this case, he suggests, there's another factor to consider: "'The needs of the many customers outweigh the needs of the fewer customers.'" Sales figures increasingly show that digital is the more popular option these days compared to physical – last month, it was reported that only seven PlayStation games had sold over 100,000 physical copies in the US this year, for example.
For most business owners, the customer IS always right. But when you have different customers wanting different things, my guess is the addage also says something like, 'The needs of the many customers outweigh the needs of the fewer customers'. https://t.co/qooGpf7SuPAugust 4, 2026
Former Square Enix director of business development Jacob Navok also points to the difference in profit that platforms like PlayStation and game publishers get when selling a copy of a physical game for the same price as a digital one, thanks to "'missing' money" on things like manufacturing costs, stolen copies, defective discs, and more.
He suggests that "if these customers valued physical as much as they profess… they would pay more! The issue is players want their cake and to eat it," and that "they refuse to put their wallets where their mouth is. Instead, they want Sony to pick up the check."
Although it's a fair point about the difference in profits, that second part does raise questions. After all, if folks aren't actually being charged more for their physical games, of course they're not going to be paying more – customers don't decide the price themselves, so it's hard to call them selfish in that sense. We can't know how many people would be willing to pay more without actually seeing it happen. As technology becomes more and more expensive, it's not unreasonable to suggest that there'd be a dip in sales, but I'm sure plenty of collectors and physical media lovers would still be willing to pay the cost.
But then, we come back to Jaffe's point – the many versus the few. Is Sony willing to keep putting that effort in for a dedicated, but noticeably smaller section of its customer base? Well, considering that the company only last week doubled down on its decision to kill discs, acknowledging the "strong views" from players but saying that it doesn't "see that there will be any negative impact on our business," I think we – unfortunately – have our answer.
