NIS America Boss: Sony ‘Hearing a Lot of Feedback’ on Ending PS5 Discs

Sony is still telling partners it’s “hearing a lot of the feedback from customers” on killing PS5 discs, according to Kenzo Saruhashi, the CEO of Nippon Ichi Software and president of NIS America. Speaking to Kotaku at PAX West, Saruhashi said his conversations with Sony haven’t produced a reversal, but they haven’t produced a dead end either. “In our discussions with Sony so far, I think that they’re hearing a lot of the feedback from customers and so while that may be one destination that we arrive at, it’s possible that the discussion may change in the future, so we’ll have to see what happens, what comes of it.”

That’s about as close to hope as anyone’s offered since Sony confirmed its disc-free plan back in July. Fans have been arguing over what it means for collectors ever since the news broke, and Saruhashi’s comments have reignited that debate:

What Saruhashi Told Kotaku About Sony’s Position

Saruhashi is just one of many company heads concerned about Sony’s recent decision to discontinue the manufacturing of physical game discs starting in 2028. He’s also candid about how much he actually knows, which isn’t much more than the rest of us. What he committed to is narrower and more personal: NIS America’s own output.

Asked directly whether the studio might end up shipping “codes in a box” once Sony’s cutoff hits, he conceded that may be the case. But he framed it as a fallback, not a plan. NIS America’s stated intention, in his own words, is “to continue making those physical editions and delivering the exceptional quality that our customers are expecting of us.”

Our view: that’s a diplomatic answer from someone who has no leverage over Sony’s factory schedule. Saruhashi isn’t announcing a deal. He’s saying the door hasn’t been welded shut yet, and that’s worth reporting without pretending it’s a walk-back.

The January 2028 Cutoff, Straight From Sony’s Blog

Sony’s own PlayStation.Blog post from July 1 set the terms everyone’s now negotiating around. Physical game disc production for all new games releasing on PlayStation consoles will be discontinued starting January 2028. This transition has no impact on games that already released, or will be releasing, prior to January 2028 in disc format.

Sony’s justification leans entirely on where the money already is. According to Sony’s financial results for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2025, digital downloads accounted for 85% of full-game software sales on PS4 and PS5, while physical copies accounted for the remaining 15%. Retail has followed the same curve: GameStop has reportedly closed more than 1,300 stores over the past two fiscal years.

SEGA and Capcom Aren’t Sweating It

Not every publisher is treating this like a crisis. Capcom has been blunt about its own numbers, telling press its digital share is as large as 90% of all sales, which makes a disc cutoff a rounding error rather than a threat.

SEGA’s position is warmer but still non-committal to any fight with Sony. President and COO Shuji Utsumi told Famitsu the company still values its physical roots, saying “We were originally a platform provider, and of course, we still value our physical culture,” and that SEGA is “currently challenging ourselves to shift towards being able to think about and act on the important aspects of digital in parallel.” That’s a studio hedging both ways, not one digging in against Sony’s plan.

Why NIS America’s Position Is Different

NIS America isn’t Capcom or SEGA in scale, and that’s the point. Its business runs on Disgaea-style tactical RPGs and imported niche titles sold in elaborate, art-book-and-soundtrack collector’s editions through its own storefront rather than mass retail. Strip the disc out of that package and you’re left selling a box with a code in it at a price built for something heavier.

The company’s recent behaviour on Switch 2 backs up that it’s not bluffing about caring. It moved away from Game-Key Cards, the download-triggering cartridges Nintendo partners have leaned on to cut manufacturing costs, specifically to give buyers a proper disc-equivalent again. That’s not the move of a publisher preparing to embrace code-in-a-box as a first choice.

If you ask us, this is the real fault line in the disc debate. It was never really about whether Sony’s math works for a 90%-digital giant like Capcom. It’s about whether the platform holder builds any accommodation at all for publishers whose entire pitch to fans is a nicer box.

Saruhashi has no more information than anyone reading this. What he does have is a direct line to Sony and a business that depends on the answer. The January 2028 deadline hasn’t moved. What might move, on his account, is what Sony still lets publishers like his put inside the box before then.