When Disgaea: Hour of Darkness came out on the PlayStation 2 in 2003, the disc was accompanied by a thick instruction manual explaining the strategy RPG to new players. Fans have long since become accustomed to PlayStation game cases that are completely empty outside of the disc, but starting in 2028, there won’t even be discs inside. Disgaea creator Sohei Niikawa recently spoke about what will be lost when that happens.
“I think physical editions of games are very important,” he told Noisy Pixel in a recent interview at Anime Expo 2026. “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.”
Niikawa pointed out that physical copies of games give players something they can take to events and have the developers actually sign. “Afterward, they can take it home, display it, and decorate their room with it,” he explained. “Physical games are important because they can carry that kind of meaning.”
He added that he can understand Sony’s decision from a purely business point of view, but suggested the executives involved have probably never experienced the way fans treat physical games at conventions like Anime Expo.
Sony’s upcoming shift away from game discs doesn’t mean there won’t still be game boxes. In fact, the company has suggested that publishers can continue to ship cases to stores and have them sit on shelves. They’ll just contain a download code inside instead of something the game data can be stored on. This is the approach Grand Theft Auto VI is taking when it releases in November.
Niikawa suggested that if Sony is going to get rid of discs, however, it might as well get rid of the rest of the physical infrastructure for playing games in your living room. “If they’re going to go as far as eliminating physical packages, they may as well eliminate the hardware too,” he said. “A television would be enough. Why would you need the console? If you’re going to get rid of physical games, you may as well go all the way.”
The famous Disgaea producer, who served as Nippon Ichi Software’s president until 2022,has since founded his own game company and is currently preparing for the release of a new strategy RPG called Demons’ Night Fever. That game will have a physical version when it comes out later this year. You can read our hands-on preview of it here.
