Sega’s Utsumi Backs Physical Discs as Sony Plans All-Digital PS5 Future by 2028
Sega president and COO Shuji Utsumi has publicly reaffirmed the company’s commitment to physical game media, telling Japanese outlet Famitsu that discs remain culturally important to the publisher even as digital distribution becomes a growing priority. The comments, published this week and picked up by outlets including Nintendo Life and Automaton West, arrive just weeks after Sony confirmed it will stop manufacturing PlayStation discs for new games from January 2028.
Utsumi Tells Famitsu Sega “Still Values the Culture of Physical Media”
Asked directly about the growing industry debate over physical software, Utsumi told Famitsu that the company still very much values physical media and are working on their strategy going forward to complement both physical and digital video game software. In translated remarks carried by My Nintendo News, Utsumi said Sega was “originally a platform provider, and of course, we still value our physical culture,” adding that rather than completely abandoning that, Sega is “currently challenging ourselves to shift towards being able to think about and act on the important aspects of digital in parallel.”
At the same time, Utsumi was clear that digital is no longer optional for a company that once made its name as a console manufacturer. Regarding titles Sega calls “full games” for consoles and PCs, he said a digital shift is “crucial,” noting that while consoles remain important, the proportion of people playing on PC is “steadily increasing.” He also acknowledged that this represents a genuine cultural shift inside the company, since Sega has apparently required a conscious change in mindset, with Utsumi claiming the company tends to “think from a physical perspective.”
Sony’s January 2028 Disc Cutoff Looms Over the Industry
Utsumi’s comments land against the backdrop of Sony’s own bombshell announcement earlier this month. Sony announced it will stop producing physical discs for all new PlayStation games starting in January 2028, marking a move into an all-digital future, after which every new release will be sold digitally through the PlayStation Store and other retailers. Crucially, the change is not retroactive: games released before the cutoff will continue to be available on disc.
Sony has framed the decision as simply following where the market already is. In a short PlayStation Blog post, Sony stated that it is making the move in response to “shifting trends in consumer preference” favouring digital media, which the company says “significantly outpaces physical discs.” Independent reporting from GameFile has added useful context on the economics behind that shift, noting that abandoning discs will spare Sony the cost of manufacturing and shipping them, which analysts and industry veterans estimated could account for roughly $1 of a game’s retail price, though that direct saving for first-party titles is limited by the shrinking share of buyers who still purchase physical copies.
PC Growth and a Rough Year for Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds
Sega’s renewed digital push isn’t happening in a vacuum. According to Automaton West’s reporting on the same Famitsu interview, Sega had a “tough year” in 2025, with titles positioned as major releases — Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds in particular — falling short of sales targets despite favourable reception from critics, prompting the company to plan measures that will allow it to sell more of its games. That underperformance appears to be feeding directly into Sega’s rethink of how and where it sells full-price titles, with PC’s growing install base seen as the biggest opportunity Sega can’t afford to under-serve.
Even so, Utsumi was careful to frame the shift as additive rather than a wholesale abandonment of retail. He noted that, as a former console holder, Sega still values physical media and is currently aiming for a model of distribution that will allow it to pursue digital without abandoning the former.
What Sega’s Stance Means for Physical Buyers in NZ and Australia
For collectors and retail-focused gamers across New Zealand and Australia, where import pricing and regional stock of Japanese-published titles can already be inconsistent, Sega’s public reassurance offers at least some near-term certainty that boxed copies of console and PC releases won’t disappear overnight. That’s a notable contrast to Sony’s timeline, which puts a firm end date on new disc production for PlayStation software from January 2028 regardless of region.
Sega has not detailed exactly how its “parallel” physical-and-digital model will work in practice, and Utsumi’s comments stop short of any concrete commitments on future hardware, packaging or regional retail deals. But with Sony setting a hard deadline and other publishers watching closely, Sega’s willingness to say the quiet part out loud — that discs still matter — sets it apart from the platform holder it now indirectly competes against for third-party goodwill.
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Article By News Desk
