Disgaea creator Sohei Niikawa has amplified his criticism of Sony's decision to stop manufacturing physical PlayStation discs from January 2028, telling Noisy Pixel at Anime Expo that the firm has failed to grasp what physical copies mean emotionally to fans. New comments carried by Push Square show Niikawa arguing that if Sony is willing to scrap physical packaging entirely, it might as well abandon dedicated hardware too, since games could simply be streamed through a television without need for a console.

Niikawa accepts there is sound business logic behind Sony's move given falling sales of boxed games, but insists this purely commercial reasoning ignores the sentimental role physical discs play for fans, who treasure them as keepsakes, get them signed at events, and use them to decorate their homes. His remarks add to a wider backlash against Sony's plan and have prompted debate among fans and commentators about whether the shift towards digital and cloud-based gaming risks eroding the culture surrounding physical game ownership.