In this week’s issue of Famitsu magazine, Sega president Shuji Utsumi was questioned about the company’s stance on physical media following Sony’s announcement that it would stop producing physical games in January 2028. While it seems that Sega has a strong desire to push for digital distribution, the company has no plans to cease producing physical games as it values the “culture of physical media.”
Explaining further, Shuji told Famitsu, “When it comes to titles we call ‘full games’ for consoles and PCs, we believe that a digital shift is crucial.” He says that while consoles are important to the industry, the proportion of people playing on PC is slowly increasing with time. “There are many people who say, ‘I can play it on PC,’ he notes. “In order to cultivate that market, we believe it is important to strengthen our digitalization.”
Having a previous background as a console manufacturer, though, Sega understands the importance of physical media to certain players. “We were originally a platform provider,” Shuji states, “and of course, we still value the culture of physical media. Rather than completely abandoning that, we are currently challenging ourselves to shift so that we can think about and act on the important aspects of digital media in parallel.”
Some of this feels a little odd in the face of Sega releasing Game-Key Cards for most of its games on Nintendo Switch 2, but then I do believe Shuji is telling the truth. Sega has always had a strong physical presence in games from its arcade machines down to quirky peripherals, so I don’t think the company would toss that away in the name of “evolution.” We don’t know if the PlayStation 6 will entirely abandon physical media, either, just that Sony is exiting the market. There’s a chance Sega will be one of the few to produce actual discs for the PS6.
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Written by Peter Glagowski
Peter has been a freelance gaming and film critic for over seven years. His passion for Nintendo is only matched by the size of his collection.
