Hideo Kojima Comments on Physical Production of Games Ceasing; Fears End of Game Ownership
Kojima said (via machine translation), “It has been announced that physical game software will no longer be produced starting in 2028. As someone who grew up with physical media, that makes me very sad. Because of that, I’m buying as many CDs, Blu-rays, and other physical media as I can while they’re still available.”
“The transition to digital will happen in stages. Right now, even if physical discs disappear, you’ll still be able to download game data onto your hard drive. At least in that case, the data is still on your own computer. But I think the next step will be a complete move to subscription services and streaming. At that point, I won’t actually own anything anymore.”
5 replies
But even then you don't actually own them. Didn't Kojima read the terms of use when he released his games on platforms like Steam? Why not give us DRM free versions of Death Stranding if ownership is this important?
Maybe he thought releasing Death Stranding on consoles complete on disc was good enough. Hopefully he would change is mind about that.
Personally I don't think he thought much about it at all. Maybe this changes in the future. We'll see.
To give him benefit of the doubt, he may have little control over DRM versus the publisher. But yes you are right, if he really tries (eg using the "I'm THE Kojima" card), the game could possibly be DRM free
Game ownership ceased to exist when the US passed the deeply corrupt DMCA.