Hideo Kojima was in Italy recently to participate in the "Il Cinema in Piazza" Film Festival. During a Q&A session, he was asked about his thoughts on Sony ending the physical production of games in 2028.
You can find a video source here of his response on Youtube. A translation of his response can be found here on X.
For the sake of convenience, I have copied the text from the translation on X here.
"Since production is ending in 2028, this is about video games, but I grew up with physical media, so I find it really sad. Currently, I’ve been buying up a lot of Blu-rays, such as various movies, and CDs too.
The situation is different for games, as they are downloaded to the hard drive, that means the game data remains on your own hardware. However, if things shift to streaming in the future, that won’t be the case anymore.
With streaming subscription services, like Netflix or Amazon, there is a server somewhere, and you essentially just have the right to turn the tap, and when you do, the data flows out. That’s how movies work on these platforms, right? You don't download the data, you access it directly through a subscription. And the consequence of that is that you don't actually possess the data yourself.
There are companies that own these servers and let you 'turn the tap' for a monthly fee. However, with nations, politics and various ways of thinking, one naturally has to consider the possibility that if there is a change, the data inside will stop being distributed. And if that happens you won’t be able to watch or play the movies and games you like.
That is what is frightening.
So, what is happening to video games in 2028, might also happen to movies. I’d like everyone to keep that in mind."
Hideo Kojima does not seem pleased with the direction the video game industry is taking. Given his love of movies and games as an art form, this does not surprise me. Thanks for staying based, Mr. Kojima.
Edit: I would also like to use this opportunity to remind people that Hideo Kojima is not just Mr. Video Game Man. Hideo Kojima truly respects the art of film making, and he's been very vocal about his thoughts on movies. He has written several articles about films for The Rolling Stone, and he was invited to pick out his favourite films from the Criterion Closet.
You can find a video source here of his response on Youtube. A translation of his response can be found here on X.
For the sake of convenience, I have copied the text from the translation on X here.
"Since production is ending in 2028, this is about video games, but I grew up with physical media, so I find it really sad. Currently, I’ve been buying up a lot of Blu-rays, such as various movies, and CDs too.
The situation is different for games, as they are downloaded to the hard drive, that means the game data remains on your own hardware. However, if things shift to streaming in the future, that won’t be the case anymore.
With streaming subscription services, like Netflix or Amazon, there is a server somewhere, and you essentially just have the right to turn the tap, and when you do, the data flows out. That’s how movies work on these platforms, right? You don't download the data, you access it directly through a subscription. And the consequence of that is that you don't actually possess the data yourself.
There are companies that own these servers and let you 'turn the tap' for a monthly fee. However, with nations, politics and various ways of thinking, one naturally has to consider the possibility that if there is a change, the data inside will stop being distributed. And if that happens you won’t be able to watch or play the movies and games you like.
That is what is frightening.
So, what is happening to video games in 2028, might also happen to movies. I’d like everyone to keep that in mind."
Hideo Kojima does not seem pleased with the direction the video game industry is taking. Given his love of movies and games as an art form, this does not surprise me. Thanks for staying based, Mr. Kojima.
Edit: I would also like to use this opportunity to remind people that Hideo Kojima is not just Mr. Video Game Man. Hideo Kojima truly respects the art of film making, and he's been very vocal about his thoughts on movies. He has written several articles about films for The Rolling Stone, and he was invited to pick out his favourite films from the Criterion Closet.
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