Kenzo Saruhashi is chief executive of Nippon Ichi Software and president of its American arm, NIS America. His company builds a real part of its business on boxed limited editions of video games. On September 25, at PAX West, he told Kotaku that Sony is still hearing from publishers and players about its reported plan to stop manufacturing physical discs for new PlayStation releases — and that the discussions are still active and could still change.

The plan has not changed. Sony published it on the PlayStation Blog on July 1, 2026. Physical disc production for new PlayStation games will be discontinued starting in January 2028. No announcement since has moved that date.

Saruhashi chose careful words. He said Sony appears to be receiving substantial feedback from players. What he described was ongoing talk, not a confirmed reversal. On his own company’s position he was plainer.

But speaking for myself, I know that a big part of our business model, particularly with NISA, is producing our physical limited editions and that’s an important part of our business and we, for our part, intend to continue making those physical editions and delivering the exceptional quality that our customers are expecting of us.

That was Saruhashi speaking for NISA, according to Kotaku’s account. It commits Sony to nothing. What it establishes is narrower and still worth something: at least one publisher is carrying its concerns directly to the platform holder while the policy remains under discussion, and NISA intends to keep producing physical editions regardless of where the discussion lands.

For anyone with a shelf of boxed collector’s editions, January 2028 is the date the hard questions start. Saruhashi named one possible destination if Sony ends disc manufacturing: the code-in-a-box release. It is worth being clear about what that product is. The packaging is physical — the box, possibly a manual, an artbook or other collectibles, depending on the release. The game is not. A download code sits where the disc used to sit, and access to the software depends on redeeming a digital license and downloading the title.

For collectors the distinction is not a detail. It is the whole thing. A code in a box cannot be resold the way a disc can. It offers no offline access from the shelf. Its survival over the long term rests on services someone else controls. The box is the artifact. The game is a license. For collectors who value resale, offline access or long-term preservation, that matters considerably.

What comes next is mostly unknown. Saruhashi gave no timeline. He described no specific concessions from Sony and confirmed no formal alternative arrangement. The reporting around his remarks keeps them in proportion: publisher feedback reaching the right ears is meaningful, but it is a data point in a negotiation, not a policy reversal. Until Sony confirms otherwise, the reported plan stands.

The practical move for collectors and PlayStation owners is to watch for Sony to speak directly. The July 1 post on the PlayStation Blog is the record. The date on it is January 2028.