Sega President: Digital Shift ‘Crucial’ but Physical Media Still Valued

Sega president Shuji Utsumi told Famitsu that a digital shift is “crucial” for the company’s future, though he insisted Sega still values physical media. The comments, published in July 2026, come as Sony plans to cease manufacturing PlayStation 5 game discs from January 2028, leaving the physical games market in doubt for console publishers.

Utsumi said the proportion of PC players is steadily increasing and that Sega must “strengthen our digitalisation” to reach global audiences. He acknowledged that Sega “tends to think from a physical perspective” and that the company is working to think about digital and physical “in parallel.”

The statement may reassure collectors, but it is hard to imagine how Sega would continue releasing discs on a platform that no longer supports them. Utsumi’s words sound like the kind of strategic hedging publishers use before making the inevitable jump to all-digital. Sony’s disc phase-out, combined with the industry’s pursuit of higher digital margins, makes a full retreat from physical distribution seem only a matter of time.